Flax seeds??

[Hillschicks]

Watching modern marvels on the history channel about eggs the other day... They claimed omega 3 heart healthy eggs are the result of feeding your chickens flax seed or fish oil... I figure it wouldnt hurt to mix flax seed in with my chicken food mix (cracked corn, layer food, oats) ... When i get around to it we will be adding sunflower seeds... We also free range daily tho with cold coming bugs are scarse... Would it be worth the time to bother with the flax seeds?? Im not aiming to sell "heart healthy" eggs... But i figure if there is an easier way to make my family egg intake more healthy i should... My question is is there a reason not too???

 

[Spangled]

Omega 3s are great. Flax is good enough, I suppose. I was feeding flax seed to my chickens a few years ago. It went straight through my chickens whole even though they were eating their granite grit. (I noticed a few months later when cleaning the chicken house.) So I started grinding the flax in the coffee grinder and adding it to their morning treats, but then found out that the oils start to go rancid within just a few seconds or minutes. Of course, those sources were found a few years back, but you could probably still do an internet search on "rancid oil" or something like that. "grinding flax"

So at that point, I decided that we humans might as well eat the flax seeds (whole or ground) and get our Omega 3s that way. Why run the flax seeds through the chickens just we could eat their Omega 3 eggs?

Studies say, those that I read back then, that Omega 3s from fish are much better than plant Omega 3s.

If you want your layers to get Omega 3s, other sources might be less expensive and a more sure way to get them. You can grow purslane. Even just grass has Omega 3s, right?

NOTE: Maybe my chickens were just throwing the flaxseed out of their feed instead of eating it and it going right through them un-utilized. There's no way to know now.

 

[Chickeneggineer]

I read the same thing about flax seed. I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and pay a little extra for the flax seed. I wasn't sure whether the chicks were even eating it as i had seen the seeds on the floor of the coop like "spangled" did. But then i started watching the chickens a little bit more and realized that while some of the flax seed gets knocked out of the feeder, the chickens will come back around and snack on it.
I personally like the fact that my eggs are healthier because i'm feeding the chickens the flax seed. My son is really particular on what he eats, this way he eats healthier and he doesn't even know it. Also, if I do have someone else eat my eggs it is something I can brag about, how my eggs are as good or even better than the expensive eggs in the store.

 

[Chris09]

When looking at the long term affect of feeding flaxseed to poultry the cons out weigh the pros.

Some studies have shown that feeding flaxseed over a long period of time can lower chicken weight, chickens tend to eat less, hens have over all smaller eggs with less yolk, chicken had liver hemorrhages


Chris

 

[Organics North]

Yes, I feed a couple percent of flax, not so much for the omega 3's but for the diversity factor and the decent fat for the birds long term health.

IMO if you want Omega 3's feed greens greens and more greens.... Alfalfa hay, pellets, kale, lettuce, weeds... Matter of fact free range your birds...... You will see the omega 3's in you eggs... Good dark color.... (Don't need some fancy industrial ag scientist to tell us what makes a healthy egg!!!)

Every watch a chicken free range? They eat roots, bugs, worms shoots, blades of grass.... They do not walk down the row like a corn picker eating grains all day long...

Same goes for cows! They are meant to eat greens not grains!

Grains are good for dry or cold seasons when fresh greens are not around.

Grains are good for industrialists trying to maximize their profits.

Pasture those birds if you want Omega 3's!

 

[Hillschicks]

Thanks for the thoughts on the flax seed... If there is no reason not too do it i might as well ... Im not worried about the cost as my 10 chickens dont eat that much... If they eat it and seem to like it they'll get more, if not we wont be any worse off than we are today

 

[Hillschicks]

Thanks for the thoughts on the flax seed... If there is no reason not too do it i might as well ... Im not worried about the cost as my 10 chickens dont eat that much... If they eat it and seem to like it they'll get more, if not we wont be any worse off than we are today

 

[Spangled]

Thanks for the thoughts on the flax seed... If there is no reason not too do it i might as well

... Im not worried about the cost as my 10 chickens dont eat that much... If they eat it and seem to like it they'll get more, if not we wont be any worse off than we are today

You may want to check on inclusion rates. Most of the testing in the literature I saw was done around the 4% - 15% level. Of course, it's obvious, but maybe not to everyone reading along a few years later, that we can't just fill up their feeder with flaxseed. Flaxseed is just a small part of their diet. I can't remember how much I was adding per batch of feed. I think it was only 1%, and I'm sure it wasn't more than 4%.

I guess sometimes it can cause loose droppings, but I think that was with the flaxseed meal which is what is leftover after the oil has been removed.

One study indicated that egg production was higher for chickens when just 4% of their feed was flaxseed when compared with chickens not eating flaxseed, but I'm not seeing how much higher production was. At 4% no negative effects on shell quality or interior quality of egg (yolk, albumin, size of both, etc). And of course, the findings about Omega 3s are already well known.

 

[Spangled]

When looking at the long term affect of feeding flaxseed to poultry the cons out weigh the pros.

Some studies have shown that feeding flaxseed over a long period of time can lower chicken weight, chickens tend to eat less, hens have over all smaller eggs with less yolk, chicken had liver hemorrhages


Chris

Were all these detrimental effects from eating flaxseed or flaxseed meal or some other flaxseed (linseed) product altogether.

At what rate were these chickens fed the flax product that you are referring to?

Long term? How long is "long term" or "long period?" Usually chicken studies aren't done "long term," which would indicate that it might not take that long for these effects to occur.

Those are pretty drastic effects.

 

[Chris09]

Were all these detrimental effects from eating flaxseed or flaxseed meal or some other flaxseed (linseed) product altogether.

At what rate were these chickens fed the flax product that you are referring to?

Long term? How long is "long term" or "long period?" Usually chicken studies aren't done "long term," which would indicate that it might not take that long for these effects to occur.

Those are pretty drastic effects.

Quote: The test used Flaxseed and not a Flaxseed Meal



Quote: There were 4 test groups,
Group 1 fed a feed with no flaxseed
Group 2 fed a feed with 4% flaxseed
Group 3 fed a feed with 8% flaxseed
Group 4 fed a feed with 10% flaxseed
The feed for a test birds was relatively the same in all test except for the amount of flaxseed.



Quote: The test ran 25 weeks, Test birds was started at 28 weeks of age and the test ran until 53 weeks of age.

Chris