What to feed to get Orange yolk

[MARANMAN2011]

Marigolds for the win

 

[Shelby T-81]

After a big crawfish boil, I dumped the shells and heads in the chicken yard. I started getting the brightest orange yolks I've ever seen. Stopped getting them after all the crawfish leftovers were gone. I believe the shells (which are orange when boiled) are rich in iodine. Eggs tasted the same.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I believe the shells (which are orange when boiled) are rich in iodine.

Astaxanthin. Its a carotenoid, also responsible for the bright orange/red in salmon.

 

[TylerBareneckChickens]

actually, the salmon might, as coloring is added to farmed salmon to make it more attractive to humans. Astaxanthan, I think.

No it's not Astaxanthan they add to their genetically modified feed. That's far too expensive. It is an artificial chemical, or what the industry is allowed to call synthetic Astaxanthan, that is not found anywhere in their food supply, or ours, along with the growth hormone and the anti-biotics they add to keep the Salmon from dying from the high amounts of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), as well as elements such as arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead, copper, zinc and fluorine.
I don't want my chickens eating this or passing it on into the eggs which finds it's way onto our dinner plates.
The color in wild caught comes from their natural struggle to swim upstream to their particular spot to lay their eggs. It is their own blood rushing through the entire body that gives them that special pink color and we get the benefit of all that nutritional value that comes from it. Chickens too!!!

 

[TheFarm41]

Hello everyone,
I been freeding my chickens 16% layer pellets for a year now, but I change their diet a couple of months ago with winter.
I fed them cooked salmon (from an out of business restaurant due to COVID) every week maybe twice if I have the time.
Then I fed them some canned spinach and mixed veggies from that restaurant, every other day, then I ran out.
Their eggs turn very orange then gone this month, I still do the salmon but getting low in stock.
That restaurant gave me a deal to buy off his stocked canned and frozen salmon so he could sell his business.
Now I want to get this orange yolks back and I want to do it in the least expensive way.
Yes I do free range in the summer and get light orange but this spring time, I want to make sure the chickens have enough to make those orange eggs again and want help if anyone could have a list of feed that I can mix up myself to get that dark orange again. My customers loved those orange yolks and with the yolks getting pale my customers are wondering if their still healthy.
I want to start feeding them 18% protein layer just to make sure they get enough protein and energy specially roaming around in the farm.

ANYBODY HAVE A FEED MIX FOR ORANGE YOLKS?

Grass. Will turn yolk bright orange faster than anything. Let them wander around finding their own.

 

[TheFarm41]

Hello everyone,
I been freeding my chickens 16% layer pellets for a year now, but I change their diet a couple of months ago with winter.
I fed them cooked salmon (from an out of business restaurant due to COVID) every week maybe twice if I have the time.
Then I fed them some canned spinach and mixed veggies from that restaurant, every other day, then I ran out.
Their eggs turn very orange then gone this month, I still do the salmon but getting low in stock.
That restaurant gave me a deal to buy off his stocked canned and frozen salmon so he could sell his business.
Now I want to get this orange yolks back and I want to do it in the least expensive way.
Yes I do free range in the summer and get light orange but this spring time, I want to make sure the chickens have enough to make those orange eggs again and want help if anyone could have a list of feed that I can mix up myself to get that dark orange again. My customers loved those orange yolks and with the yolks getting pale my customers are wondering if their still healthy.
I want to start feeding them 18% protein layer just to make sure they get enough protein and energy specially roaming around in the farm.

ANYBODY HAVE A FEED MIX FOR ORANGE YOLKS?

I should have said grass, and all the bugs and microbes they find in it. Free ranging in the spring will give them more nutrients then when the grass/ground starts to dry up in the summer.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

No it's not Astaxanthan they add to their genetically modified feed. That's far too expensive. It is an artificial chemical, or what the industry is allowed to call synthetic Astaxanthan, that is not found anywhere in their food supply, or ours, along with the growth hormone and the anti-biotics they add to keep the Salmon from dying from the high amounts of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), as well as elements such as arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead, copper, zinc and fluorine.
I don't want my chickens eating this or passing it on into the eggs which finds it's way onto our dinner plates.
The color in wild caught comes from their natural struggle to swim upstream to their particular spot to lay their eggs. It is their own blood rushing through the entire body that gives them that special pink color and we get the benefit of all that nutritional value that comes from it. Chickens too!!!

You are entitled to your beliefs, but certainly not your own facts.

Astaxanthan is easy to produce, and relatively cheap, around $1/lb. Wild salmon get it not from their blood, or the breakdown of their bodies as they attempt to return to their spawning places, but from their diet.

https://marine-aquaculture.extensio...n-on-a-label-for-salmon-at-the-grocery-store/
https://time.com/4790794/farmed-salmon-pink/
https://wildalaskancompany.com/blog/heres-why-salmon-are-pink-orange-or-red
https://www.salmonscotland.co.uk/facts/faqs/fish-health-welfare/why-is-salmon-pink

etc etc etc.

Nor is there any chemical difference between Astaxanthan produced by yeast or algae (the natural source for astaxanthan which is then taken up by creatures higher in the food chain) and the "real" stuff. Synthetically produced astaxanthan, from one of three common reactions, can be differentiated by chemical analysis, though there is no reputable studies indicating its a danger to us compared to the bio-manufactured variety - to the contrary, the few studfies I could find suggest it is less reactive (and from the point of view of the studies in those non peer reviewed periodicals, less valuable as result) than the natural variety. Its advantages in terms of cost vary with the price of petroleum or marigold petals (reaction dependant), but it does have a significant cost advantage. Even so, chemically, its astaxanthan. Mechanically, its shaped somewhat differently than bio-produced astaxanthan, in its ring structures.

 

[NaperLix]

I use purina crumbles ,with marigold ,but mine were deep color before I used it.
Green leaf lettuce.Rich in beta- carotene.
I chop 1 head green leaf, a day.They love it.My eggs look like eggs from Europe.
I give them 2 tbsp.whole golden flax seeds on the lettuce ,so my eggs will have omega3 as well.

 

[Anne Marie-MT]

I'm all for getting rid of mice, but chickens aren't very humane about it. Throw them around, pull them apart...

Cats do the same thing

 

[GardenDmpls]

I have a neighbor who collects food from supermarkets, schools and other places to distribute to those in need. Last year she had quite a few boxes full of beautiful red, orange and yellow sweet peppers. Rather than throw them out, she gave them to me for the chickens. Some were too pretty and I cut up and froze a bunch. Fed the chickens the rest and their egg yolks were the most beautiful red-orange color.