% of wheat?

[ChickenCanoe]

Quote: Xanthophylls ARE carotenoids.

I also said "studies indicate that up to 50% of the total diet can be wheat if formulas were adjusted to compensate" - meaning the inclusion of other plant products contributing carotenoids, like alfalfa.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Quote: OK, they did relate to broilers.

Here's a report from University of Nebraska poultry nutritionists referencing an 85% wheat based diet for layers along with information about the pigmentation limitation.

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2290&context=extensionhist

 

[Chic Chick]

I give my hens and chicks free choice with whole wheat berries and their grower or layer pellets. Even in winter when they can't find bugs and grass their yolks are never a pale yellow.
Since I have chickens of all ages together because of broodies with their hatches mixed in with the layers and the adolescents, I have feed in different places, (with some chick starter available that only the little ones can get to) and the wheat will always be eaten first.
My cockerals are penned separate once they can be sexed and fed a straight wheat diet with some vegetable scraps and it's unbelievable how much fat they have when I butcher them.

Straight wheat with a bit of vegetable scraps is enough to keep my breeding roosters healthy all winter too.