[Sherbatious border]

Has anyone got some advice about odd eggs? I bought two new hens this spring, a Welsummer and a Cream Legbar. The Welsummer lays beautiful looking dark brown eggs, but the eggs don't keep. They look fine but they will bob up to the surface when float tested after only a couple of weeks. Now we have noticed the yolks in her eggs are also almost white in colour. It's very off putting, I can't eat them, they look so weird! At first the yolks were definitely yellow. The hens are all fed on a local mill's premium layers pellets, plus some greens which I throw them daily (usually some chopped up grass and weeds, but at the moment it's what I can find in the dried up garden - herbs, dandelion leaves etc) and a handful of mixed corn as a treat. I give them a herbal product for intestinal health monthly and worm with flubenvet twice a year. They are kept in a large walk in covered run (With some shade, thankfully at the moment) and once a year I dig out the top few inches of surface and replace it with fresh bark/wood chippings. The hens look healthy, we haven't had the usual sudden appearance of loads of mites so far this year, (a few but not masses) and the Legbar's eggs keep perfectly well and have normal yellow yolks, as do my Columbine's eggs. Could there be something wrong with my Welsummer?

[chrismahon]

Sounds like something in her diet, or her diet digestion performance has been changed. I'd remove the herbal product, check the contents of the layers pellets to see if it has 'yolk enhancers' which are chemical colourants and if it hasn't any make sure they get plenty of cabbage or grass and also give them Avipro Avian to ensure their gut flora are in top shape. It could be a genetic issue with the Welsummer being more prone to adverse effects?

[Terry T]

I’ve had white yolks a couple of times, generally in late spring. Both chickens did return to normal - I did switched to Allan and Page layers pellets and there was a positive correlation with the yellow returning. Again it was just one bird out of a dozen that was affected.

[Perris]

it's sulphur that colours yolks yellow I think; perhaps try supplements with relatively high sulphur content?

[Part time dabbler]

I am no expert but I thought the yellow of the yoke was increased with the amount of greens they eat, e.g. grass etc. Or is this an old wives tale?

[Eve]

I am no expert but I thought the yellow of the yoke was increased with the amount of greens they eat, e.g. grass etc. Or is this an old wives tale?

I remember something along those lines. And feeding them dandelions, too.

[Lingon]

I am no expert but I thought the yellow of the yoke was increased with the amount of greens they eat, e.g. grass etc. Or is this an old wives tale?

It is not a old wifes tale. In battery hens feed, Medicago sativa is often added so the yolks turn yellow. Otherwise the egg yolks would be very light in color. If you feed your chickens with pellets, go and look at the ingredients to see if it is added.

[Sherbatious border]

Thank you all, I am reassured to find other people have had this happen - I switched to this new feed a couple of months ago, I'll go back to the feed I was using before and feed more greens, see if that helps.

[landroverroy]

The yellow pigment comes from vitamin A, eg in greens, carrots, maize etc. Now that artificial colourants are banned from poultry feed, you will sometimes see grass meal added which will give nice bright yolks.
The fact that the Welsumer's eggs float before the other hens' do, doesn't necessarily mean they are off (unless they smell!) It just means that possibly the shell is a bit more porous so the internal air sac is bigger than in the other eggs, and therefore the eggs float.