Gluten and soy free feeds

[fantasiafarm]

Hi! I have a gluten allergy and soy allergy. We have a small mixed flock of chicks right now (our first chicks/chickens) and i would love some suggestions of proper feeding for gluten and soy free. What veggies and proteins can i give them? When they are older and laying, what can i grow and give?
Millet? Peas? Eggs? Meats? Gluten free grains?
What scraps can they have and not have?

 

[Percheron chick]

Part of the answer to your question is how sensitive to these products are you? Soy is supper easy to eliminate from the chicken diet and there is evidence that soy isoflavones do end up in the eggs. You can buy soy and GMO free chicken feed at most feed stores. Gluten is another story. Are you sensitive to only wheat gluten or corn, oat, barley and all the other glutens as well? There are research studies that show that eggs produced by hens on a high gluten diet produce eggs that have less gluten than gluten-free products (less than 3 ppm). Do you have trouble touching and breathing dust from oat and corn products? You might be making this harder than you have to.

Chickens are little garbage cans and can do well on non traditional feed products but you've got to do some math and make sure they are getting enough protein, Ca and energy to be able to produce eggs. They can be very happy eating just about anything. There is a sticky on BYC of products to avoid and it's pretty inclusive. Start there.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/newsearch?search=soy+gluten

Check out some of these threads if interested!

Lionsgrip is a good site, also UKY:

http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Feed_ingredients/Grains.html
http://www.lionsgrip.com/protein.html
http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Feed_ingredients/Proteins.html
Make sure everything is FEED grade, not ag- grade.
Don't forget to mix in oyster shell at 1 lb per 20 lb feed per flemingoutdoors.com's link for LAYERS
http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/croy...t=600&width=550&inlineId=eyInsets&modal=false

I supply cherrystone grit size #3 for them too as I feed a lot of whole grains and seeds. Our soil doesn't seem to have very much sharp granite grit in it.

Check out "feeding peas to Poultry Manitoba" too - google it - if interested in feeding split peas raw.
Don't forget black oil sun. seeds
millet
organic cracked corn
I aim for a protein percentage of around 15% for my layers. For chicks I recommend getting a chick starter- or making your own- grind the grains and seeds for them. They need protein of 20%. Try to follow a recipe if possible as amino acids are important.

For vitamins they sell a premix- Fertrell.

Also you can give them short 2-3 inches for adults, 1/2 inch for chicks- grass clippings for vitamins.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Oh and I forgot to mention that chickens need a good source of protein. Meat scraps, boiled or scrambled eggs, clabbered milk from a raw milk source if you have a dairy animal, peas, sun. seeds, etc.

Just peas and Sun. seeds- peanuts, flax, pumpkin seeds, etc. I tried and they don't lay as many eggs as with soy. So I say if not soy, then try to give fish meal (make sure not rancid) or meat scraps or clabbered dairy. There are some organic feeds with fish meal as the base.

Alfalfa pellets you can try to see if they like them soaked...every chicken is different though- try to buy in small quantities first!!

http://www.azurestandard.com/shop/search?q=feed&submit=
We love Azurestandard.com- don't know if you are in their range.

There is Modestomilling.com in CA -they might have something for you. Also you can ask your feed store if they can order something for you.

 

[fantasiafarm]

I cant even have soaps, make up or shampoos that contain gluten. Barley, rye, wheat. I break out horribly in a dh blistery rash. So it does limit me a lot.

I am going to try some mixes of stuff for the chicks. Will do some more research tonight when i get home