California - Northern

[h2oratt]

Question for anyone in Redding, if there is anyone raising birds for meat also, how do you get your birds butchered?

We do it ourselves.

 

[BirdieBirdie]

Is there anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area teaching a class on how to raise chickens?

caychris is right. We're here to help. Welcome!

 

[bethwood01]

We do it ourselves.

You're not worried about code enforcement? Or are you in a different area?

 

[Lynn Manes]

 

I'm totally open to grain, as long as the nutritional profile of the grain does not contain polyunsaturated fats.   Wheat, oats, corn, barley, and rice are all high in polyunsaturates.   Something like tapioca might work, although I guess you have to process that to get off some foul tasting toxins when you feed it.


Just for kicks, I priced on the world market one ton of tapioca / cassava flour around $100 to $300/ton.   Typical pricing for wheat flour was similar per ton.   So it might be possible to buy the kind of grain I want in bulk.


But I do realize once I step outside of commercial feeds I am conducting a science experiment.  It might end well and it might not.


P.S., I want to raise chickens for eggs.   I need about 30 eggs per week.

Look into Flax and Chia . One thing about the grains is that as fodder the profile changes more in favor of omega 3 vs omega 6.

Be careful with flax. I tried making my own gluten free chicken feed and put flax in it. Later, I was told that all chicken eggs are gf by a scientist at UC Davis. Since I've had no bad reactions to our eggs and we don't eat our chickens, I stopped trying to make my feed. But when I would do up treats, I'd throw a small amount of flax seed in with it. They started to get runny poo. I stopped using it and poo went back to normal. Not saying to not use flax at all but in very small amounts and not daily. Same thing also happened using black oil sunflower seeds.I just stopped giving them altogether, since it was more of a treat than anything else.I had no problem with chia seeds, and since I use them in and on many dishes we eat, I always have a big container around to share with the flock.

 

[westes]

Be careful with flax. I tried making my own gluten free chicken feed and put flax in it. Later, I was told that all chicken eggs are gf by a scientist at UC Davis. Since I've had no bad reactions to our eggs and we don't eat our chickens, I stopped trying to make my feed. But when I would do up treats, I'd throw a small amount of flax seed in with it. They started to get runny poo. I stopped using it and poo went back to normal. Not saying to not use flax at all but in very small amounts and not daily. Same thing also happened using black oil sunflower seeds.I just stopped giving them altogether, since it was more of a treat than anything else.I had no problem with chia seeds, and since I use them in and on many dishes we eat, I always have a big container around to share with the flock.

Gluten is a protein/peptide found in wheat. A chicken by definition is gluten-free, as is any animal, as you figured out. What can be gluten-free is the *diet* you feed the chicken. I don't have any opinion on whether chickens benefit from being gluten free. Many humans do.

Thanks for sharing that seeds were causing your chickens to get runs. That might have been some kind of inflammation from those foods, but flax has the same effect on humans. They usually tell you to not eat more than one tablespoon of flax per day as a human.

I am really curious how do you prepare that chia in advance? Chia soaks up water rapidly and swells. That can't be safe to feed dry?

 

[ronott1]

You're not worried about code enforcement? Or are you in a different area?

I process inside the house--no one in the neighborhood knows. I also process them before they start crowing.

 

[bethwood01]

I process inside the house--no one in the neighborhood knows. I also process them before they start crowing.

Thanks! I'm hoping to be able to do this too. Couldn't find anyplace in the area that would butcher them for us. What the heck we're supposed to do with the roosters we can't have, if we can't butcher them, I don't know...

 

[caychris]

Gluten is a protein/peptide found in wheat. A chicken by definition is gluten-free, as is any animal, as you figured out. What can be gluten-free is the *diet* you feed the chicken. I don't have any opinion on whether chickens benefit from being gluten free. Many humans do.

Thanks for sharing that seeds were causing your chickens to get runs. That might have been some kind of inflammation from those foods, but flax has the same effect on humans. They usually tell you to not eat more than one tablespoon of flax per day as a human.

I am really curious how do you prepare that chia in advance? Chia soaks up water rapidly and swells. That can't be safe to feed dry?

I was thinking Chia as fodder rather than the seeds
Flax too. though its harder to sprout.

The fatty acid profile is different between the sprouted grasses and the grains and is generally more nutritious

 

[westes]

I was thinking Chia as fodder rather than the seeds
Flax too. though its harder to sprout.

The fatty acid profile is different between the sprouted grasses and the grains and is generally more nutritious

Sprouted wheat, as one example, has nearly half its fatty acids as omega-6 polyunsatures:
https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5750/2

 

[Lynn Manes]

Be careful with flax. I tried making my own gluten free chicken feed and put flax in it. Later, I was told that all chicken eggs are gf by a scientist at UC Davis. Since I've had no bad reactions to our eggs and we don't eat our chickens, I stopped trying to make my feed. But when I would do up treats, I'd throw a small amount of flax seed in with it. They started to get runny poo. I stopped using it and poo went back to normal. Not saying to not use flax at all but in very small amounts and not daily. Same thing also happened using black oil sunflower seeds.I just stopped giving them altogether, since it was more of a treat than anything else.I had no problem with chia seeds, and since I use them in and on many dishes we eat, I always have a big container around to share with the flock.

Gluten is a protein/peptide found in wheat.   A chicken by definition is gluten-free, as is any animal, as you figured out.   What can be gluten-free is the *diet* you feed the chicken.  I don't have any opinion on whether chickens benefit from being gluten free.   Many humans do.

Thanks for sharing that seeds were causing your chickens to get runs.   That might have been some kind of inflammation from those foods, but flax has the same effect on humans.   They usually tell you to not eat more than one tablespoon of flax per day as a human.


I am really curious how do you prepare that chia in advance?   Chia soaks up water rapidly and swells.   That can't be safe to feed dry?

I don't prepare it at all. I simply sprinkle it on salads in stews and soups,or whatever for us but in very small quantities. There's really no taste to it, but I'm hoping to derive healthy benefits from using it. Same with the chickens. I just sprinkle it on their treat food which is mostly fresh veggies sometimes mixed with fresh fruit pieces. We have 2 desert tortoises that I feed fresh veggies to daily. I share them with our chickens. What I've been doing to save time is chopping these veggies and putting them in daily one cup sandwich bags and freezing them. Then it's a faster way to get out there to give it to them rather than chopping up fresh every single morning. I make a combo of yellow squash, chayote squash, zucchini,brussels sprouts, collard greens & a little bit of mustard greens (only bc I think they are stinky and don't want my eggs tasting like they smell. Lol) The tortoises get 3/4c. of each and the chickens get the other 1/4c of each small sandwich bag. These veggies don't freeze hard as a rock, so I can pull the bags out and take the end of my kitchen shears and use to sort of pound them where they have frozen in clumps. Anyway, I then just take about 1/8 tsp of chia seeds and throw on top for the chickens. They love this combo, and eat it all. I live in Bakersfield. Summers are excruciatingly hot and long here. As an example, today it was 104°, still in late September.So giving these veggies frozen, they love. And although my tortoises may let some of their food sit for a while til it thaws, not the chickens. They'll chow down theirs, then head for the tortoises food, where I'm always shooing them away I do also give my tortoises that flat cactus sold in the grocery stores here, but I don't know what it might do to the chickens as it's slimy, like Aloe Vera is inside. I think it's called napolas cactus or something like that. I know many Hispanics eat it. I've never tried it bc I've no idea how to prepare it.Long answer, I know, for such a simple question, but hey that's me. Just call me Wordy Gertie