Can my chickens primary feed be wheat?

[Mary Coleman]

My dad brought home about 300 lbs of wheat. My chickens free range all day and in the afternoon I give them their feed(which is scratch grains, wheat, layer crumbles, and oyster shell, so can I just give them wheat? Or is that not enough?

 

[iwiw60]

My dad brought home about 300 lbs of wheat. My chickens free range all day and in the afternoon I give them their feed(which is scratch grains, wheat, layer crumbles, and oyster shell, so can I just give them wheat? Or is that not enough?

Well, that really depends on how old your chickens are. Are they laying? If they are they should definitely be on a good layer feed only with oyster shell on the side. I can't tell from your post but I'm getting the feeling that you are "mixing" those feeds all together??

 

[Den in Penn]

Ever hear the phrase, "Man does not live by bread alone." Well neither do chickens. Man is an omnivore, so are chickens. A good mix of foods is much better then just one grain alone. That is what a commercial feed does it mixes several foods and minerals and vitamins to make up the feed. Certainly you can mix the wheat in with other stuff to use the wheat. Whole wheat will keep for a long time, if you keep it dry, so you don't have to use it up all that quickly. This winter when it brown outside you could sprout it for some thing green for them.

 

[Crabella]

Sprout your wheat and feed it that way as a supplement to your layer feed & oystershell. They will love it and you will have beautiful orange yolks.

 

[Mary Coleman]

This may seem like a dumb question, but what do y'all mean "sprout your wheat" and how do you do it?

 

[Mary Coleman]

And yes. I'm mixing all of those together. So what I'm getting is mix the wheat with layer crumbles and oyster shells and I should be good to go...?

 

[Den in Penn]

Actually I was thinking of doing fodder when I said sprouting for greens. Sprouting is soaking the seed then allowing it to germinate then eating. By allowing it to grow a little and shoot its first leaves, then feeding is fodder. Oh and about the by bread alone thing, I was being way literal. It is usually meant to mean that there are more things to fulfill one then food alone.

 

[Mary Coleman]

So do you just place them in a bowl of water? And they start to grow?

 

[Mary Coleman]

I researched this online and it seems pretty simple. I think I will do this this up coming winter thank you for your advise!

 

[iwiw60]

And yes. I'm mixing all of those together. So what I'm getting is mix the wheat with layer crumbles and oyster shells and I should be good to go...?

Mary....it is not advisable to "mix" your oyster shell with your feed(s)! Oyster shell should be offered in it's own little container "on the side" .. your chickens will consume what they need as they see fit. Chickens....go figure!!