Birds wont eat wheat

[christophercmaki]

Hello and I'm sorry if this is in the wrong forum or been done to death already. I have been feeding my birds my own mix of feed for quite a while. but i've noticed that they never seem to eat the wheat right away. they will kick in on the ground and stomp on it for 3 days then eat it. i'm assuming they are making it sprout in the dirt and they they want it but with colder weather coming up I need to do something different. Current feed mix is equal parts corn, cracked oats, red wheat, and a 1/3 part soybean meal for the protein boost. i buy all of this from my local feed mill. i'm thinking about dropping back on the wheat and then adding sunflower seeds and peas. thoughts??

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and I'm sorry if this is in the wrong forum or been done to death already. I have been feeding my birds my own mix of feed for quite a while. but i've noticed that they never seem to eat the wheat right away. they will kick in on the ground and stomp on it for 3 days then eat it. i'm assuming they are making it sprout in the dirt and they they want it but with colder weather coming up I need to do something different. Current feed mix is equal parts corn, cracked oats, red wheat, and a 1/3 part soybean meal for the protein boost. i buy all of this from my local feed mill. i'm thinking about dropping back on the wheat and then adding sunflower seeds and peas. thoughts??

You should have a healthy fat source in your mix so I would include 4-6% by weight unhulled black oil sunflower seed (BOSS).
Can you source Ferrell Poultry Nutri-balancer? I would also add the same % by wt. of that to the mix. If you can use fish meal for all or at least half of your protein source that would be better than all soy.
Then ferment.
I ferment my mix for three days. I use triticale for the bulk of my mix and it is a wheat/barley hybrid. It's the first thing they go after.

 

[christophercmaki]

I am looking for something to feed that is quick and easy. i currently feed in 2-5gallon buckets with pvc elbows. i refill them each once a week. fermenting isn't an option. i simply do not have the time to devote to that. i would just rather get my feed mixed up and then dump it into the feeding buckets.

 

[DobieLover]

I am looking for something to feed that is quick and easy. i currently feed in 2-5gallon buckets with pvc elbows. i refill them each once a week. fermenting isn't an option. i simply do not have the time to devote to that. i would just rather get my feed mixed up and then dump it into the feeding buckets.

Then why not just feed a commercial mix?

 

[christophercmaki]

Then why not just feed a commercial mix?

Because this is cheaper and I'm sure its better for them than the generic mix.

 

[NatJ]

Because this is cheaper and I'm sure its better for them than the generic mix.

One way in which the commercial pellets or crumbles are better: the chickens cannot pick out favorite parts.

And if they waste less, the "more expensive" option could perhaps come out cheaper overall--it depends on the relative prices and the amount of waste.

 

[aart]

Because this is cheaper and I'm sure its better for them than the generic mix.

Are you adding a poultry 'premix' that includes all the necessary vitamin/minerals/amino acids to your grains?

 

[NNYchick]

Hello and I'm sorry if this is in the wrong forum or been done to death already. I have been feeding my birds my own mix of feed for quite a while. but i've noticed that they never seem to eat the wheat right away. they will kick in on the ground and stomp on it for 3 days then eat it. i'm assuming they are making it sprout in the dirt and they they want it but with colder weather coming up I need to do something different. Current feed mix is equal parts corn, cracked oats, red wheat, and a 1/3 part soybean meal for the protein boost. i buy all of this from my local feed mill. i'm thinking about dropping back on the wheat and then adding sunflower seeds and peas. thoughts??

It is possible that the wheat is bad, sometimes grins come out of the field contaminated with micro toxins, graineries and mills aren’t required to do any testing. I would try to switch out for a different sourced wheat as nutritionally wheat is a better option than the other things you mentioned
I really don’t see your mix as a balanced feed, not much better than scratch grain. The first thing that stands out is you don’t have a balance of amino acids, in commercial feed the get away with all grain feed because they are adding synthetic amino acid supplements to make up the for lack of animal protein and they are not getting all the nessary vitamins and minerals.
this interview with poultry nutritionist really helped me understand how poultry nutrition works and how to read labels. https://www.breedersacademy.com/ep35-interview-with-jeff-mattocks-about-poultry-nutrition-part-1/
If you would like to still source your own ingredients locally Fertell has some free rations recipes on their website and they have a number you can call to help you can’t source an ingredient and need a replacement.
This picture was shared from the American Poultry Association education on the importance of a balanced feed.