Sources of xanthophyll?

[Maiahr]

I read that lack of xanthophyll can make the egg yolk colorless. Two sources of xanthophyll are yellow corn meal, alfalfa leaf. Are you aware of any other food to make the yolk more yellow?

 

[Alaskan]

Marigolds and carrots

 

[NatJ]

I read that lack of xanthophyll can make the egg yolk colorless. Two sources of xanthophyll are yellow corn meal, alfalfa leaf. Are you aware of any other food to make the yolk more yellow?

Yellow corn in any form (whole, or ground, or an ingredient of their food.)
Any green plants. Some are better than others for this, but any of them can help a bit.

I would suggest offering your chickens any green plants that are available to you that are safe for animals to eat.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Pumpkins and squash are two more chicken friendly sources.

 

[Maiahr]

Thank you all! Mine do not eat carrots and I've never heard of chicken eating carrots, but we have pumpkins here.. Do you boil them or give them raw?

 

[beccaWA]

Thank you all! Mine do not eat carrots and I've never heard of chicken eating carrots, but we have pumpkins here.. Do you boil them or give them raw?

I boil mine a bit. They really don't like them overdone (slimy). You could just chop them up raw. They'll eat the seeds, too, but I chop up the stringy part because they can choke on that.

 

[NatJ]

Mine do not eat carrots and I've never heard of chicken eating carrots,

I've seen chickens eat cooked carrots, but they seem to ignore the raw ones. Maybe it's just that raw carrots are too hard for them to bite easily (or maybe not, I don't know for sure.)

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I agree that cooking makes squash and pumpkins easier for chickens to eat (carrots too) - but I also give a pumpkin or squash a wack with a shovel or a boot stomp to open them up and the chickens eat a decent amount.

 

[Alaskan]

Carrot peals are easy for them to eat.. and yes, left over cooked

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Carrot peals are easy for them to eat.. and yes, left over cooked

And “carrot peel” is a relative term - you can “peel”’a carrot down to almost nothing to make it easier for the flock to eat.