# Pale Yolks



## Taylor335G (Dec 8, 2008)

I have had chickens for about 3 years and everyone who has boughten eggs from me has always said that our yolks were the darkest yellow they had ever seen. This year my chickens stopped laying for a long time.
Finally, when they started laying again the yolks seem pale. I am feeding lay mesh pellets and whole wheat berries. Could the wheat cause this? This is the first time I have fed them wheat. I had a bag that got moths in it so had to get rid of it somewhere without wasting it.


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## dunappy (Nov 11, 2008)

The yellow in the yolk is dependent on the content of their feed. Layer pellets and Wheat have lower concentrations of the Carotenoids that make the dary yellow color. 

The most important sources of carotenoids in poultry feed are maize (corn), maize gluten, alfalfa (lucerne) and grass meals; these sources contain the pigmenting carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, which, together with other oxygen-containing carotenoids, are known by the collective name of xanthophylls.

So if you want a darker yellow yolk, feed more corn, grass or alfalfa to the chickens.


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