Burford Brown eggs from Clarence Court

I always buy Waitrose small white eggs. They are free range. The yolks are orange, taste delicious and are perfect for poaching.

I also buy from one of the two butchers we have in our local village. They are delicious and taste better than any supermarket ones.

I buy Burford when they're available otherwise any free range variety, have never noticed that the Burford's taste any better have just liked the colour of the yolks.

The colour and flavor of eggs reflect the feed, hens eating grass will have darker yolk, flavor will also vary, care has to be taken not to have any undesirable flavors in eggs and meat.

Burford Browns are large robust outdoor hens which eat a lot more food and need much more space in the chicken shed.
Hence the eggs are more expensive, nutrition of eggs is the same wherever they come from, colours of shells and yolks makes no difference

Marigolds are allowed even in organic feeds apparently.

This is interesting from an egg producer

www.organicvalley.coop/blog/what-does-egg-yolk-color-mean/

I always buy Chestnut Marans . They have golden yolks and actually genuinely taste like eggs used to.

NotSpaghetti that's an interestiing link, thanks for posting

I only buy Burford Browns too, but sometimes buy local organic ones if I can. In recent months though the BB shells are thinner than they used to be, breaking with a light tap [other organic ones need a much heavier tap].

I've wondered what changes to the BB diet have been made because it's noticeable.

bluebird243

I only buy Burford Browns too, but sometimes buy local organic ones if I can. In recent months though the BB shells are thinner than they used to be, breaking with a light tap [other organic ones need a much heavier tap].

I've wondered what changes to the BB diet have been made because it's noticeable.

Shells vary due to the amount of calcium in the diet and the age of the hens older hens have weaker shells. Hens produce an egg most days for nearly a year, that’s a lot of mineral to digest and rebuild.

Chooks will eat anything including pulling flowers up from the garden!
Would carrot peelings make the yolks darker, wonder?

Allira

Chooks will eat anything including pulling flowers up from the garden!
Would carrot peelings make the yolks darker, wonder?

Yes, dont feed them onions or any strong flavour.

Yoke colour has always been decided by the what the birds eat. If the hens were in someone's garden and ate marigolds they would have deep orange eggs. Clarence house are only mimicing what happens in nature - like flamingo's having the pink plumage because in the wild because they eat a lot of molluscs high in caratinoids. Zoos will feed them a diet supplemented with extra caratinoids to keep them pink.

Same difference.

I buy my eggs from a farm shop where I can see the free range chickens whenever I drive past.

Personally I have no preference for darker yolks.* I’d always understood that it was down to what the hens are fed. Much the same as IIRC the colour of flamingos is down to a particular little crustacean (or whatever it is) that they eat.

*My very fussy-eater mother would have called them ‘eggy’ eggs - she wasn’t keen on ‘eggy’ eggs!

David49

Allira

Chooks will eat anything including pulling flowers up from the garden!
Would carrot peelings make the yolks darker, wonder?

Yes, dont feed them onions or any strong flavour.

I do know 😁

Actually, weren't they complaints a while ago about eggs tasting fishy because they were feeding hens on fish meal?

Fishmeal, no! Yuk!

But why not marygolds, what is the issue here. They are edible flowers, and there is nothing wrong with a bit of paprika either. The way the hens are kept and treated is paramount however.

Allira carrot peelings should make the yokes darker.

One of the many reasons I stopped eating cheap chicken, welfare being the main one, was because the chickens were fed fishmeal and tasted horrible and fishy.

I've never heard of these brands.

Free range (which is a bit of a misnomer in itself) are within my budget, so I always buy them.

M0nica

Allira carrot peelings should make the yokes darker.

One of the many reasons I stopped eating cheap chicken, welfare being the main one, was because the chickens were fed fishmeal and tasted horrible and fishy.

DD's chooks get kitchen scraps as well as corn but never meat or fish leftovers.
The eggs are very tasty.

When my daughter was young she worked at dog boarding kennels during the school holidays.
The people who owned the kennels kept hens which were free range. They sold the eggs to local people and customers of the kennels.
I was warned by my daughter never to buy the eggs because she regularly observed the hens pecking dog faeces.
My daughter

Aldom - surely that is normal?
Dogs like chicken poo by the way.
Hens will eat almost anything!

NotSpaghetti

Aldom - surely that is normal?
Dogs like chicken poo by the way.
Hens will eat almost anything!

Including each other on occasions

Aldom

When my daughter was young she worked at dog boarding kennels during the school holidays.
The people who owned the kennels kept hens which were free range. They sold the eggs to local people and customers of the kennels.
I was warned by my daughter never to buy the eggs because she regularly observed the hens pecking dog faeces.
My daughter

The hens would be pecking bits of food and larvae and insect eggs from the poo.
Very nutritious!

Allira

Aldom

When my daughter was young she worked at dog boarding kennels during the school holidays.
The people who owned the kennels kept hens which were free range. They sold the eggs to local people and customers of the kennels.
I was warned by my daughter never to buy the eggs because she regularly observed the hens pecking dog faeces.
My daughter

The hens would be pecking bits of food and larvae and insect eggs from the poo.
Very nutritious!

This thread has taken a very nasty turn 😄🤢

Why, it's just the truth - it's what they do. The smallholding where we get our eggs also has horses and donkeys, so the chickens will be roaming around picking all sorts up. Wonder if some people would refuse to eat veg which had been grown in manure, for instance?

I havnt seen burford eggs but i do try to buy 0 marked eggs, the most expensive, but hard to find so I often end up with size 1.

I had no idea each egg is stamped with a number until a few years ago. It then progresses downwards and I don’t buy any over size 1.

MissInterpreted

Why, it's just the truth - it's what they do. The smallholding where we get our eggs also has horses and donkeys, so the chickens will be roaming around picking all sorts up. Wonder if some people would refuse to eat veg which had been grown in manure, for instance?

That’s quite likely in allotments and home gardens, commercial veg has to be grown in land that has NOT had manure for 12 months.