Hey, why are my egg yolks yellow?

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March 22, 2018

If you order eggs from us, you are used to getting eggs with a deep orange yolk. But, recently, you may have gotten a few eggs with yellow yolks. Gasp! Yellow yolks?! I know it’s shocking, but this does happen around this time every year. Here’s why.

Our chickens are always given free access to well-maintained pasture during the day, no matter the weather. In the warmer months, there are plenty of things to forage for. But, in the colder months, the idyllic pastured chicken setting changes. The chickens often choose to stay inside, close to the heater. And, even if they do venture out, there’s not much to eat in the winter pasture. So, in the winter, the laying hens’ diet is 100% feed, which consists of corn, wheat, peas, barley, fishmeal, flax seed, kelp, and a nutri-balancer which has kelp, vitamins, and minerals.

The color of an egg yolk is indicative of the laying hen’s diet, but not necessarily the nutritional content of the egg. A deep orange color indicates a truly pastured chicken eating a nutrient-dense diet of foraged bugs, seeds, and grasses. An orange or golden-yellow yolk means it was fed yellow corn and alfalfa meal. A pale or light-yellow yolk comes from eating a colorless diet of wheat, barley, or white cornmeal. Some egg farmers may add more yellow corn or marigold petals to darken the yolk. Thankfully, adding artificial color is not allowed.

All of these foods are “healthy” for a chicken, but the foraged food is the healthiest. According to a Penn State study, chickens that are truly pasture-raised have a higher nutritional value than those raised in a factory setting. Pastured chickens produce eggs with higher levels of Vitamin A, Vitamin E, and beneficial fatty acids. It’s really the chicken’s complete lifestyle - diet, exercise, general well-being, etc - that affects the nutritional value of the egg. That’s why it’s so important to know your small farmer and their specific values and practices.

You may be thinking, but it’s March, why didn’t this change start in January? Well, a laying hen always has 4-6 weeks’ worth of eggs inside, being nourished every day by the hen’s diet. So, a change to a hen’s diet will take some time, about 2 months, to fully show in the eggs. You should expect those nice deep orange yolks back in a couple months!

One of my favorite egg dishes happens to be one of the quickest and easiest dishes to make – Scrambled Eggs & Cream. Great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Heat up a pan on the stove on medium heat. Add a generous amount of cream – about 1⁄2-1 cup. Crack eggs directly into the cream. I usually use 8 for my family. Gently stir every once in a while, until cooked. The goal is to have the eggs moist and creamy and loosely mixed, with spots of white, yellow, and orange throughout. Serve solo or with toast and bacon.

Eggs

Health and Nutrition

Cooking

Ugh greenwashed labels. What does it take to get ___ on a label anyway?

Not a fan of the confusing, greenwashed labels in store? Yea, me too! And it's especially real for me, because I'm responsible for getting our labels approved with the "powers that be". Here's a little story with a big inside scoop... I made new labels for our bone broth a little while ago. It didn't go as smoothly as planned. Why? I put the little icons about our farming practices on them. They look like this: Yup, despite being 100% accurate and true, they were denied!! We're not allowed to put those statements on our food labels. So, I asked the USDA guy, "What would it take to get those claims on the labels, anyway?" The answer was kinda shocking. First off, there's some guidance on wording. Silly technicalities in my opinion. For example, you can't use the term "No Spray" but you can say "Produced without the use of synthetic pesticides." Or another example is that you can't say "No Routine Antibiotics or Vaccines" but you can say "Raised without routine use of antibiotics or vaccines." Second, the processor needs to update their documents to provide traceability. In other words, they need to document how they make sure the bones for our bone broth don't get mixed up with bones from other farms. I mean, this is pretty simple, especially with small batch foods like ours. But the documentation needs to be meticulous. Drafting it in government-approved language can be time consuming and/or costly. And lastly, once you get the wording and process right, you need proof. This was the real shocker for me: Want to know what proof would suffice for all the claims above? A 2-3 sentence affidavit (AKA a super short letter) signed by all farmers that supply us. That's it!? This lead me to a bunch of questions: What if a company submits a letter from one farmer but actually has other farmers that supply them, too? What if a company changes farmers? Will they submit new letters?What if a company's farmers change their practices in the future? Will they immediately update their labels?Are the "powers that be" checking on this? Is anyone checking on this?Is this why most farms and food facilities don't allow outside people coming in? It seems to me that, if a business isn't doing what the label says, the only way to find out is via a whistleblower. And the only way to make them stop is to take them to court. You know, like what's happening with Vital Farms and their pasture raised egg claim right now. It seems to me that, all that good natural stuff on labels - grass fed, pasture raised, antibiotic free, etc - doesn't mean it's true. Certifications are a little better, but the same kinda thing can be said about those, too. This is why, at Miller's, we choose to NOT sell in stores. No wholesale for us. In fact, we don't even have an on farm store. We only sell directly to our customers via our website. And, we choose to only get certified for what's required. This way, we can make our own natural standards. And, we can provide you will all the info and proof you need. Descriptions, photos, blog posts, test results, and more. So, what do you think? Should we do the affidavit thing to get claims on our bone broth labels? What proof do you need to feel confident in your food choices? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below (no account required - just start typing) or contact us 😊

Hey, why are my egg yolks yellow?

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Miller's Bio Farm, 523 Valley Road, Quarryville, PA 17566