I yolk you not, they're supposed to be like that

Colorful dyed boiled eggs at Real, a supermarket.

It's not uncommon to see these dyed eggs at the grocery store as well as the farmers' markets all the time. They're so festive! I was wondering about them so I asked my friends.

They said that the eggs used to be around just for Fasching (Karneval/pre-Ash Wednesday type festivities), but they are available all the time now. The eggs are boiled. However, I consider them slightly less than hard boiled, at least based on the couple that I have seen split open in a display at the farmers' market. The centers aren't all the same consistency.

What kind of freaks me out is that the eggs usually are just sitting out. I've seen some in the refrigerated section, but not always. I'm of the mind to refrigerate everything, just to be safe. I think that many would call that paranoia.

However, I'm not the most paranoid person out there. I was talking to someone from my Culture College class and she said that she bought one of these eggs and started to eat it but freaked out when she saw the the yolk was an orangeish color instead of the pale yellow she was accustomed to. She threw the egg out because she thought something was wrong with it, either that it was spoiled or not cooked properly. I actually knew why they were like this and told her that everything was okay. If the yolks are darker, like an orange color, for example, it just means that it's more likely that the chickens were free range and they had an opportunity to eat eat foods with more pigments.