Growing our own feed, question on protein... peas?

[alpinefarm]

Wonderful that you have the ability to grow your own grains. I have never done it! Want to, though.

I am especially excited about experimenting with an ancient wheat, einkorn, to see if it would grow in our climate in high Colorado (for both my family's use and my chickens). It is from the middle east and is just beginning to be studied thoroughly and grown for commercial purposes in the US. It may hold promise for celiac sufferers. Einkorn has *twice* the protein of modern wheat (and half the chromosomes). Something to think about.

Also, quinoa is a high protein seed that I would also like to try my hand at growing and am confident about growing that at altitude.

 

[ShadyHoller]

Quote:
I didn't know about einkorn, but we have grown quinoa... just not with much success. Part of it is our coastal/Mediterranean climate isn't ideal, and part of it is that we have so much lamb's quarters (also a chenopodium, closely related to quinoa) in the soil seed bank, that when the sprouts were just coming up, I couldn't tell which sprouts were lamb's quarters and which were quinoa. However, lamb's quarters is also quite tasty, and is one of our chickens' favorite by-products from our veggie garden.

BlackBart: one possibility is that the peas and lentils in your scratch have been heated. I read last night that the toxic Trypsin is broken down by heat. I'm just guessing: this is something I didn't know about until last night when I got all the great responses to my first post.

Oh, and I forgot to respond to ChickensAreSweet's post. Yeah, the tweetie-birds can put a dent in millet. I have grown it before in a field that can be flooded in the winter, where we hunt ducks. Our big flights of blackbirds mostly show up in late fall, and by then I hope to be winding this project down. Millet is an easy grain to grow. Low in protein, but high in overall yield and calories available. Buckwheat I have done also, and will be using it this year as both a spring cover crop and for feeding the chickens. It seems to be sensitive to high heat or drought. I try to put it in as soon as our risk of spring frost has passed. Last year we got a late planting, because of all the spring rain, and it struggled once it got hot out.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I feed my split peas raw (but not lentils because of anti-nutrients), and here's why:
from http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/livestoc/as1224w.htm

Feeding Recommendations for Poultry

Several different classes of poultry can utilize field pea in their diets with proper consideration for meeting nutrient requirements. Peas can be a viable energy source, as well as a protein source since the amino acid profile closely matches requirements for many of the poultry species. Low levels of trypsin inhibitors in spring-seeded peas allow feeding without roasting. Grinding is the preferred processing method for peas in all poultry diets, but fines should be avoided.

For laying hens, peas can be fed at up to 40% of the diet without severely affecting performance, but 10% is a more practical level with equal performance. Broilers and turkeys can consume 20 to 30% field pea without affecting performance. Commercial xylanases and betaglucanases added to poultry diets increased protein digestibility in diets with high percentages of field pea. Due to the shorter digestive tract and rapid passage rate, energy derived from field pea by poultry is similar to barley. Methionine is the first limiting amino acid, so supplementation with other feeds or purified sources may be recommended. As with other species, comparative cost of nutrients will determine the economic level of field peas in poultry diets.

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In addition, this same website states, "No anti-nutritional traits were observed in field pea fed to feedlot and breeding beef cattle at up to 76% of total dry matter intake."

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Here's another website:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/3738848.html

The patent disclosures discussed above relate to processes directed to beans. Although beans and split peas are legumes, i.e.--plants that place nitrogen back into the soil, they are quite structurally and chemically different. Their cellular structures are quite different and react differently to moisture. Chemically, the beans contain considerably greater amounts of saponins. Beans contain a lipoxidase enzyme not found in split peas which must be de-activated to prevent their deterioration in storage. This problem is described in the Dorsey et. al. U. S. Pat. No. 3,290,159 granted Dec. 6, 1966. Furthermore, the beans contain an anti-trypsin enzyme not found in split peas which can cause digestive problems if the beans are not cooked for between 20-30 minutes at temperatures of 230° F. or above. If the above-mentioned prior art processes were utilized for split peas or lentils, one would obtain a burned, heavily scorched mass of cooked product unfit for human consumption.

 

[marquisella]

Alfalfa for the protein. You could bale it for the winter, and then let them range through it during the summer.

 

[eKo_birdies]

Quote:
Uncooked beans are toxic to chickens. I am not sure all legumes are included in that, but I would definitely make a google search and check the BYC threads before feeding peas.

split field peas are fine/great for chickens

does this include soybeans (not that i'd feed them anyway)? sorry, just wondering what you meant by "beans"

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
Uncooked beans are toxic to chickens. I am not sure all legumes are included in that, but I would definitely make a google search and check the BYC threads before feeding peas.

split field peas are fine/great for chickens

does this include soybeans (not that i'd feed them anyway)? sorry, just wondering what you meant by "beans"

I know you didn't ask me, but I'll tell you anyway

From this website:
http://msucares.com/poultry/feeds/poultry_soybeans.html

"...All commercial soybean meals are processed in this way before being sold as feed ingredients. Raw soybeans should never be fed to poultry or game birds."

 

[BlackBart]

Quote:
Uncooked beans are toxic to chickens. I am not sure all legumes are included in that, but I would definitely make a google search and check the BYC threads before feeding peas.

split field peas are fine/great for chickens

does this include soybeans (not that i'd feed them anyway)? sorry, just wondering what you meant by "beans"

I was wondering about the "bean" comment too. My friend in Alberta lets her chickens free range and they do in the neighbors field crop of Alfalfa. They haven't died in the years they have been eating it. Alfalfa is a legume so that can be ruled out as toxic.

I asked the Nutritionist about the peas in the Hen Scratch and he said the peas are split field peas. Some are round because they haven't split.
Then he proceeded to give the whole nutritional value on split peas/chicken feed and I zoned out......
sorry been a long holiday..

 

[eKo_birdies]

Quote:
split field peas are fine/great for chickens

does this include soybeans (not that i'd feed them anyway)? sorry, just wondering what you meant by "beans"

I know you didn't ask me, but I'll tell you anyway

From this website:
http://msucares.com/poultry/feeds/poultry_soybeans.html

"...All commercial soybean meals are processed in this way before being sold as feed ingredients. Raw soybeans should never be fed to poultry or game birds."

great!! thanks!

 

[eKo_birdies]

Quote:
split field peas are fine/great for chickens

does this include soybeans (not that i'd feed them anyway)? sorry, just wondering what you meant by "beans"

I was wondering about the "bean" comment too. My friend in Alberta lets her chickens free range and they do in the neighbors field crop of Alfalfa. They haven't died in the years they have been eating it. Alfalfa is a legume so that can be ruled out as toxic.

I asked the Nutritionist about the peas in the Hen Scratch and he said the peas are split field peas. Some are round because they haven't split.
Then he proceeded to give the whole nutritional value on split peas/chicken feed and I zoned out......
sorry been a long holiday..

true... that would include things like clovers too...

i wonder what beans they mean then?