Getting Eggs! Egg Yolk Color question

[VinDeb]

My sweet girls are starting to lay, so far we have gotten about an egg per day. They are April babies, August was about when I was expecting to get eggs, so they are right on time. I think it's the same chicken laying though. The eggs are on the small side, but today we got a large egg. Do they start out small and get larger with maturity? We have 5 golden comets, these girls are so funny and vocal. One in particular loves to be petted, the others pretty much do their own thing, may tolerate being petted once in a while. They are about 18 weeks old now. Does the breed or feed determine yolk color? So far we have a pretty yellow, but was hoping for the darker - orange colored yolks.

 

[Kiki]

Congratulations on your first eggs.

Yes it is very common for it to take a few weeks for you to start getting regular sized eggs.
Sometimes the first few eggs are small or they're actually quite larger than what they will normally lay.

What they eat determines the egg yolk color.

 

[Sonya9]

Lots of greens produce rich orange yolks thanks to the carotene. And yes the eggs get bigger as they age.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Congratulations!
The eggs start out small. It seems like the hens have to work out their system a little before you get the normal sized eggs. My yokes are dark orange because I allow my chickens to free-range if they choose.

 

[imnukensc]

Free range chicken eggs (that are also fed Purina Layer feed) vs store bought eggs. I think you can figure out which is which. Diet does make a difference in yolk color.

 

[Jlgonzo]

I have wondered if the breed has something to do with yolk color as well as what they eat. I have 4 different breeds that all eat the same diet. Mine are not able to free range due to the amount of predators. I try to make up for it feeding them herbs and various greens from my garden daily as well as grubs. I have noticed that my leghorns have the lightest and most yellow yolk, but my Easter eggers, Buff Orpington and Barred Rocks are more orange but vary between those breeds.

 

[Jennc-123]

I have noticed my white egg layers have lighter yolks. All my chickens get the same food, so I believe genetics not just feed factor in.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Also have Comets. Congrats on your first eggs. As the other posters have said, yes, the eggs start small and get larger as the Comet's "plumbing" gets used to the process. Relative to body size, my Comets lay the largest eggs in my flock. (Duck eggs are larger still, but so are my Pekin ducks).

Color is definitely diet influenced, with successful free ranging generally resulting in more orange-toned yolks. Moreover, if you are fortunate enough to be able to let your flock free range, and have a varied diet available to them of growing green things, you will likely find that different birds, different breeds, will have differing green favorites. An example from my own situation:

Though I made no change in feed, as we came into the fall, something on my property was suddenly attractive to the ducks (and only, seemingly, the ducks). They ate so much of it their yolks took on a green tinge for a couple weeks, while the rest of the flock's yolks were (mostly) unchanged. It being our first year of raising them, we were so nervous we stopped eating them till we could look it up and compare what we were seeing with the various common causes of "green eggs" on the internet. I then confirmed that by butchering a duck and a chicken almost back to back. The duck's crop was jammed full of a particular green grass on my property, while the chicken (whose crop was also full) had essentially none of that particular grass, but plenty of other varieties.

Hope that helps!