Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

I had an eye exam today. My optometrist told me that eating 4 yellow egg yolks per week will provide enough Lutein to prevent macular degeneration.

Good to know!

I should have said dark yellow yolks, not pale ones.

I am going to guess that would be the yolks which are dark yellow because the layers have been on grass, I suspect the same benefits wouldn't come from the egg yolks that are coloured by feeding marigolds to improve egg yolk color.

I had the same thought. A lot of the commercial eggs have additives to make the yolks darker, so they are not necessarily more nutritious.

It seems to me that the way food is mass-produced is likely causing a lot of health problems, some that people assume are part of aging. I saw on a program that grass fed beef has a lot more omega-3 in it than grain fed beef. Omega-3 helps with brain and joint health and lots of other things.

That's great news - love my girls (Elivs & Presley) and the eggs they provide.

They can yip all they want about Alberta beef, and its good. But the best beef I have ever eaten on a consistent basis is in Argentina. Cattle there not grain feedlot fattened. The grass on the Pampas is excellent nutrition and the flavor is wonderful. Probably butchered at a slightly older age than our feedlot beef.

About the yellow yolk additives, I have always wanted to get some fine ground alfalfa or some such to mix in their feed in the winter. Don't know how or where to get, or if it would work.

Marigold will work. I might try drying some flowers for them to eat in the winter this year.
I had my eye exam too and the chap said "whatever you're doing, keep doing it!" No issues and no glasses needed at 65, DH the same.

Shnookie wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 11:27 am

I had the same thought. A lot of the commercial eggs have additives to make the yolks darker, so they are not necessarily more nutritious.

It seems to me that the way food is mass-produced is likely causing a lot of health problems, some that people assume are part of aging. I saw on a program that grass fed beef has a lot more omega-3 in it than grain fed beef. Omega-3 helps with brain and joint health and lots of other things.

I agree that some commercial feed has additives to enhance yolk colour that does not necessarily equate to more nutritious but I was reading awhile ago about somethings about eye health, so I went researching again.

Marigolds are one of the main plants that are used as a source of lutein for lutein supplements and vitamins, so even those eggs with dark yolks as a result of feeding marigolds would probably have good lutein levels.

Here is a list of lutein levels in various plants, could be useful to help increase the lutein levels in home raised eggs.
JimW

Seems to me pot marigold is Calendula, and I have it growing everywhere in my garden. I have dried the petals and used it in cheese to give goat milk a bit more colour. Will harvest more and dry it for the birds!
In the summer I dry and collect grass clippings and bag them up and use them in the nest boxes. They seem to really like eating it and though the eggs are less dark than the summer, they are still quite orange and assume that’s what’s doing. I did wonder about throwing rabbit pellets into the feed too.