2nd opinion needed - replacing wheat with rice?

[U_Stormcrow]

@U_Stormcrow Thank you for the explanation, except you have a statement in your post which surprised me: "Rice, of course, is even more deficient, and is still nutritionally superior to corn". According to the table above corn is better than rice? or I am missing something, I guess - rice or corn?

Sources matter, Maiahr, and in the source I choose to use (Feedipedia.org), Rice {Brown Rice , Broken/White , Rough/Paddy} is (marginally) better than Corn. (Click on the "Nutritional Aspects" and "Nutritional Tables" tabs)

As you can see from comparing the various rice I linked, how its preparred matters - removing the hulls helps greatly improve digestibilitiy and reduces the fiber content substantially.

Here is brown rice - Look at where I circled - in tests, the crude protein varied from a low of 7.5% to a high of 14.5%. The average was 10.5%

Here is the same table for European Corn: (Lower low, lower average, lower high - even adjusting for the higher average water content)

and if your corn is sourced from North Africa??? Its inferior to the average European Corn (though more consistent)

THAT is why I said rice was marginally superior. We can do the same thing with key amino acids. and that's before considering specialties like "golden rice" with its improved vitamin profile (too expensive to feed chickens, anyways).

Thanks for asking!

 

[Rangergord]

In light of all the anti nutritional factors in the grain as pointed out by Saysfaa and Stormcrow, and the fact that feed manufacturers often add enzymes to improve assimilation, I see an opportunity to use soaking, sprouting and fermentation to address the issue. My birds always eat better when I feed wet mash. This morning in the freezing cold they will get warm fermented cracked wheat with protein supplement for poultry.

 

[Maiahr]

@Rangergord , yes I have started soaking the triticale, thank you!
@TheFatBlueCat I have never heard of anyone using animal-based feed for chicken... maybe in NZ heH I will ask around though...
@saysfaa I like your expression "one gets correlation without causation" I will borrow it I have to go and feed the chicken now and don't have time to write long, but shortly:
Triticale HERE is gluten-free for sure. Triticale here has proven to be bad for chicken. Indeed, there is only one article in whole WWW (can you believe?) in English.. so I am reading local sources, forums, etc.
Side note - same for Cockspur grass - there is no research done on the effects of Cockspur grass on chicken. Surprising as it is widely available, cheap and proven to be good for cows and sheep...

I will be searching for a lab to test the grains I have available here.. and will write more next week. Have a blessed Sunday!

 

[CanadaEh]

Thank you. Issues with wheat - we don't have it!

we feed barley instead of wheat and consider it as a better of two

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Quite common to feed animal based feed here in NZ, but we do have a large red meat export industry so there is a lot of meat meal made as a by product. It's basically what they make dry/kibble dog and cat food out of. I buy it as a coarse powder and add to their soaked grain feed.

 

[Perris]

@Rangergord , yes I have started soaking the triticale, thank you!
@TheFatBlueCat I have never heard of anyone using animal-based feed for chicken... maybe in NZ heH I will ask around though...
@saysfaa I like your expression "one gets correlation without causation" I will borrow it I have to go and feed the chicken now and don't have time to write long, but shortly:
Triticale HERE is gluten-free for sure. Triticale here has proven to be bad for chicken. Indeed, there is only one article in whole WWW (can you believe?) in English.. so I am reading local sources, forums, etc.
Side note - same for Cockspur grass - there is no research done on the effects of Cockspur grass on chicken. Surprising as it is widely available, cheap and proven to be good for cows and sheep...

I will be searching for a lab to test the grains I have available here.. and will write more next week. Have a blessed Sunday!

I think you must have missed my link to feedipedia. Cockspur grass is discussed (with refs for further reading) here https://www.feedipedia.org/node/720
Specifically as chicken feed click on the nutritional tab. Wild chickens get mentioned.
You can also look up triticale or anything else you might be thinking about as feed on that website.

 

[raingarden]

If you have a rodent problem, chickens will eat the dead ones after a day or so.

Does anyone know if chickens will eat un-hulled rice? Carolin Gold rice does really well here but we couldn't grow enough to justify having it processed. I put a lot of effort into keeping the chickens out of the rice but never thought to just let them have it.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

If you have a rodent problem, chickens will eat the dead ones after a day or so.

Does anyone know if chickens will eat un-hulled rice? Carolin Gold rice does really well here but we couldn't grow enough to justify having it processed. I put a lot of effort into keeping the chickens out of the rice but never thought to just let them have it.

They will, there are nutrition tables for rent on feedipedia, and it is a natural grain which is improved by making it less natural. On hold rice is very high fiber, which may be a source of concern in your feed. Depends on what you are mixing with it. If I were to try it for my birds, I would keep it under 10% mama and I would soak it first. Not to ferment, but more than a basic wet Mash. Give those grains time to expand.

 

[Maiahr]

@raingarden I apologize, I am not familiar with the term "un-hulled", so I cannot comment, though I have experimented with all kinds of rice.

@CanadaEh OK, barley... I had a separate thread a while ago about barley and somehow I got the impression it is not better than wheat?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/barley-vs-wheat.1484117/
Barley has more calcium than wheat, slightly lower protein levels, definitely lower amino-acids and very high on fibre.

@Perris ah, OK i see now. Somehow when I open the links from my phone the tabs don't show. I am on the laptop now and I see the tabs. Right, so Cockspur grass - high on protein (good), high on calcium (higher than wheat - great), high on fibre (not good), amino-acids - I am not sure. Poultry nutritive values -> same as wheat... is it really so good?

So if I have to order - wheat, barley, rice, corn.... Oats does not fit in here as a main grain.

 

[Perris]

@Perris ah, OK i see now. Somehow when I open the links from my phone the tabs don't show. I am on the laptop now and I see the tabs. Right, so Cockspur grass - high on protein (good), high on calcium (higher than wheat - great), high on fibre (not good), amino-acids - I am not sure. Poultry nutritive values -> same as wheat... is it really so good?

I trust feedipedia, and have found it useful to build my own knowledge of the nutritive value of feedstuffs available to me. No feed is perfect, it is always a compromise. If you can let your chickens forage in a diverse environment they can supplement for themselves whatever's missing; otherwise, 'everything in moderation' is the motto I follow.