Whenever we give away or sell any of our eggs we get compliments on the yellowness of the yolks. And they are very yellow – almost orange at times.

They make lovely vibrant scrambled eggs and great tasty-looking cakes. They even taste better, and that’s not just father’s pride talking; most shop-bought eggs, even free-ranges ones are watery and tasteless by comparison.

The secret to getting particularly yellow eggs is quite simple, though: never throw away any of your kitchen scraps.

Pretty much anything that could go onto a compost heap can also be given to your chickens, with the exception of raw potato skins and the obvious no-goes like coffee grounds and tea bags. Basically, if it grew in the ground and you’re eating the rest of it yourself, the chickens will go mad for the trimmings.

Chickens don’t have taste-buds, so apart from making them feel full, their only interaction with food is through smell. As such, they’re as happy eating onion tops and skins, olives and garlic as they are mushrooms, tomatoes and carrots.

The more we feed them, the more healthy-looking the yolks, and the less we spend on layers pellets.

Plus, it keeps them entertained. That’s Gerry up above, picking away at the trimmings of a cauliflower. It took the three of them half a day to eat their way through it, all the time clucking and chirping happily each other.

Happy hens make healthy eggs.

Related posts:

1. What do chickens eat?
2. Eating the first of our eggs
3. Could we live on the income from our eggs?