July 5th, 2010 at 9:19PM
Laying an egg takes a ton of energy for a hen.  Protein for the albumen (whites), beta carotene for the yolks, and calcium for the hard shells. When chickens are young, they typically have dark yellow legs and feet (shanks).  As they start laying, a lot of the beta carotene in their bodies is used to create the rich yellow yolks.  As they age and lay more and more eggs, their shanks will fade from dark yellow to pale yellow to white. Rhonda, our 2 year old, is on the left and our new 16 week old Elaine is on the right.  The difference in their leg color is amazing.

Laying an egg takes a ton of energy for a hen.  Protein for the albumen (whites), beta carotene for the yolks, and calcium for the hard shells.

When chickens are young, they typically have dark yellow legs and feet (shanks).  As they start laying, a lot of the beta carotene in their bodies is used to create the rich yellow yolks.  As they age and lay more and more eggs, their shanks will fade from dark yellow to pale yellow to white.

Rhonda, our 2 year old, is on the left and our new 16 week old Elaine is on the right.  The difference in their leg color is amazing.

  1. ackb reblogged this from benjaminstein
  2. benjaminstein posted this
4 notes
Short URL for this post: http://tmblr.co/ZNQmbykBhiE