Hard Red and White Wheat for chickens?

[ARose4Heaven]

I have received 3 gallons each of white and red hard wheat. This is food grade, and was vacuum packed for long-term storage. Can I feed to my chickens as is, or do I need to crack it? How much is safe to had to thier layer feed diet at a time?

 

[sagesounds]

Yes. Wheat is excelent Food for chickens. They can eat it whole if they are full grown, If they are small & young you can crack it for them (blender will do a decent job of a small amount) Wheat is just about the best food you could give them.

 

[CanadianCrower]

I have received some durum wheat - lots of it. I wasn't sure if it could be fed at all and was wondering what to do with it, so this seems like good news to me. But, should it be fed only as a treat or as food? Mine is not cleaned. I think it's from the bottom of the grainery. It has lots of junk and yuck in it. Anyone know how I could clean it?

My chickens are nearly 11 weeks old. Do I still need to crush it for them?

 

[TipsyDog]

I don't have an answer for you, but I'm giving a bump because I'd love to know if I can feed as food alsoand if it needs to be cracked.

 

[ARose4Heaven]

I have been giving my birds the red hard wheat whole for about a week now, as a suppliment with thier layer crumbles. They act as if it were candy. No apparent harm. They are about 4 months old, Orpintons and Red Sex-links.

 

[TipsyDog]

Great! I'd like to use mine as supplement in the winter. Did you have to crack it?

 

[ARose4Heaven]

No, I didn't crack it. I guess it depends on the age of your bird. A younger chicken than mine might neet to have it run through the blender a bit first.

 

[BantyRooster]

I use whole wheat for scratch. The birds love it. What they dont eat get scratched into the ground and grows up as little wheat shoots, which they also go crazy for.

 

[CC1892]

I feed my flock a homemade scratch mix of red wheat; oats; black oil seed (from a local) mill.
None of it is cracked or ground and the birds love it!
Just make sure you provide plenty of grit, and water on hand.
The only feed I'm careful to monitor the amount and quality is corn.
It can cause crop problems, so I offer it cracked (the size of wheat) and it's limited to cold days to help generate heat.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

No need to crack it. It's just a scratch grain so if you're feeding the typical 15-16% protein layer ration then about half a handful per bird per day is plenty unless it's really cold you can give them a handful each. More than that only serves to dilute their protein intake.

If it's high quality wheat though you should eat it yourself!