Boosting Vitamin D

[Oakrun Acres]

Does anyone know of something to supplement the chickens' feed to boost Vitamin D for humans to consume (through eggs only) I have a client asking who needs to increase her Vit. D but cannot take supplements herself. I am wondering if there is something similar to giving Flax seed to chickens to boost the Omegas. I see fish is high in Vit D but I am sure it would change the taste of the eggs if fed in excess ??

 

[azygous]

Suggest to your client in lieu of vitamin D in capsule form, they can get it from direct exposure to the sun. Minus sunscreen which filters it all out. Just ten to thirty minutes several times a week will suffice.

We often forget the natural sources of vitamins, and vitamin D is the freest of them all. But people who work all day and then are indoors on weekends watching sports never get the exposure.

Chickens are no exception. They sunbathe to absorb vitamin D through their feathers, but are not able to do so if cooped up all winter. Then vitamin supplements are necessary since D is an important vitamin for laying eggs.

 

[blackdog043]

Tell your client to get outside with as much skin exposed as they can. That is the best way to get vitamin D. Darker complexions and older people don't absorb it as well, from what I remember.

I've read that chickens that are exposed to the sun actually have more vitamin D in their egg yolk, than those kept indoors all the time.

Can they eat foods that are high in vitamin D?

 

[Oakrun Acres]

We live in Ontario Canada - the sun is not strong enough in the winter to absorb Vit D through it's rays. I wondered about feeding chickens Vit D foods but most are either supplemented or in the case of Fish - might affect the taste of the eggs?

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

We live in Ontario Canada - the sun is not strong enough in the winter to absorb Vit D through it's rays. I wondered about feeding chickens Vit D foods but most are either supplemented or in the case of Fish - might affect the taste of the eggs?

It may...depending on the kind of fish. The less fishy the fish, the less risk of flavor transfer.

Beef liver is also high in vitamin D. Not sure about other animal livers.

I’ve never bought liver, so no idea what it costs...but if live in an area with hunters getting non-beef livers may be possible.

 

[azygous]

Here's a good scientific study that shows feeding hens high amounts of D3 will greatly enrich the D3 in their eggs. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6121420/

"They conducted a 40-wk experiment using laying hens to investigate the impact of feeding various vitamin D3 enriched diets. Feeds were enriched with four different amounts of vitamin D3, about 9,700, 17,000, 25,000, and 100,000 IU/kg of chicken feed. The control diet, the amount given chickens today, was 2,200 IU D3/kg feed. The chickens tolerated the higher D3 doses without any side effects.

Eggs from each of the four vitamin D enriched diets were collected and analyzed over the 40 weeks of the experiment. The peak D3 concentrations in egg yolk occurred at week 3 and were between 200 IU/egg to about 8,000 IU/egg, depending on the amount of D3 given the hen.

The high D3 diets used demonstrate that up to 160 times higher D3 concentration than that of typical eggs can be obtained through safely feeding chickens a more vitamin D3-enriched diet. The scientists also checked many different indicators of egg quality, such as taste tests and palatability. The high D3 did not adversely affect any measure of egg quality."

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Good stuff! I’d be interested to see if someone with an intolerance for the supplements could eat the eggs.