GLuten free feed??????

[potagergirl]

This is one of the first posts I read on back yard chickens. In fact I was doing research on alternative
feeds for chickens when I found it on google.
Thank you for posting your question and for posting your mix. Because of it I did some research
and found we would be able to have chickens for gluten free eggs. First we chose guineas for meat
which I have ordered. Then with your information we selected an adorable white crested black polish
for our family. Hubby let me order ten because I am worried about making errors with our first group.

For me it is one more step to eliminating gluten from my diet and that of my seven year old grandson
who has celiac disease. It is severe, thus anything we can do to improve his diet is worth doing.
Please do keep this thread going it is very important for a lot of people.
We don't have chickens yet our first will be arriving in May and we are all excited

 

[dilettantesteph]

I'm not sure how new to celiac disease you are, so forgive me if you already know this. I'm looking into gf poultry feed for the same reason. One thing I've noticed is that a lot of people use oats rather than the gf grains. I am one of the 10% or so of celiacs who is also sensitive to oats. The protein in oats, avenin, is similar in structure to gluten causing some celiacs to react to it too. Before feeding your chickens oats, you might want to check to see if this applies to you and your grandson.

 

[subhanalah]

I'm not sure how new to celiac disease you are, so forgive me if you already know this.  I'm looking into gf poultry feed for the same reason.  One thing I've noticed is that a lot of people use oats rather than the gf grains.  I am one of the 10% or so of celiacs who is also sensitive to oats.  The protein in oats, avenin, is similar in structure to gluten causing some celiacs to react to it too.  Before feeding your chickens oats, you might want to check to see if this applies to you and your grandson.

I always thought it was due to oats being contaminated with other grains?

 

[dilettantesteph]

Contamination of oats with gluten grains is another problem. Avenin intolerance is a problem for many celiacs, and in my opinion, it is more common among more sensitive celiacs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oat_sensitivity
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.0010001

 

[potagergirl]

Quite new as my grandson was diagnosed a year ago January.

So far working with his diet we have found yellow corn bothers him
but not blue corn. Soy is an absolute no.

Oats so far seem to be one that doesn't bother him. He does not have
the pain or any side effects even days later after eating oats.

We will find out in May how well we have been doing with his diet they
will be doing another scope on him to see how much irritation is there and
to make sure there isn't something else going on.
He has been doing very well on the gluten free diet but it seems there is
still something else going on.

As far as the oats go I am always willing to move on to something else to
mix for the winter. My biggest hope we will have enough scraps to substitute
their diet. I am always reading and looking for suggestions.
I am involved with 2 celiac groups in two different cities who also help with
ideas. Next meeting I am hoping to find someone that raises chickens gluten
free so I can discuss mixes and maybe even making fodder.

thank you for the information I will be looking further into the oats and will ask
his specialist about it.

 

[BlessedCountry6]

Thank you for this thread and I do hope to see this thread grow with more information. Thank you for all the ideas and info!! We not only have Celiacs but a lot of other food allergies and sensitivities. Wish I had something to add but I am new to this so maybe in the near future I will have some info to share. I just read up on the sprouting. I am a little confused but I am blessed with a hubby that likes to figure out the details that confuse me! If the sprouting goes well I will be back to share!

 

[potagergirl]

Hello,
I was doing a little market search in local feed stores. I noticed in the wild bird section they
have bulk seeds including safflower and niger (thistle seed). Has anyone tried either one of
these with chickens? If so what were your results?

thank you for any info you might have.

 

[birdldy9]

As a sensitive celiac, eggs are a cross reactive food. I can not have any grains, milk, or eggs. I have found a number of links to pages where people have been making their own GF feed for some time and seem to have healthy birds.

 

[myfivehens]

I'm not sure how new to celiac disease you are, so forgive me if you already know this. I'm looking into gf poultry feed for the same reason. One thing I've noticed is that a lot of people use oats rather than the gf grains. I am one of the 10% or so of celiacs who is also sensitive to oats. The protein in oats, avenin, is similar in structure to gluten causing some celiacs to react to it too. Before feeding your chickens oats, you might want to check to see if this applies to you and your grandson.

Hi Stephanie,
I recognize your user name from the glutenzap forums Glad to see you over here! It's frustrating how many people don't believe that you can be sensitive to eggs from hens fed gluten grains but me and my girls definitely do! We were egg free for a long time because of reactions to eggs and then one day I decided to try finding local eggs that were not fed gluten grains and surprisingly we didn't react to them at all! When we first got our chickens we just fed them regular gluten grain based feed until we could figure out a better option, I started feeling sick after eating the eggs and my daughter started refusing eggs again after being a pretty big egg eater. We are also sadly sensitive to even gluten free oats. Finally we found a local feed mill that grinds their own feed that is corn and soy based and we are able to eat the eggs again. It might be a problem for those that are corn and soy sensitive but doesn't seem to be an issue for us. I don't love that it's most likely GMO but we ferment it so I feel like that makes it a bit better. Hope this helps! There is also the option of growing your own fodder but I haven't gotten there yet...

 

[dilettantesteph]

I really don't like being treated like I am saying that I was abducted by aliens when I am trying to do things like find eggs that I can eat safely. It really wouldn't be that much of a problem if it weren't for the fact that it can make me and my son very sick when people don't take my concerns seriously.

I found out the gluten in feed was a problem over two seasons when eggs that we had been eating all summer started bothering us as winter came on and the free range hens starting eating more feed. I finally started freezing them for the winter months.

I think that raising my own would be the best. The free range eggs that I can find here are supplemented with some grains. Thanks you for another confirmation that this could work. I still haven't gotten birds yet. I am leaning towards quail as I can't have very many chickens where I live. I am thinking that I should still try those omega 6 eggs before committing, but I haven't felt like making myself sick yet.