Has anyone added Flax seed to their feed?

[rrrsmom]

ok, I have a big planter box in my chicken yard. It's about a foot high 3ft long and 4 ft wide. I have the entire thing filled with dirt and at the top I have half inch welded wire about an inch or inch and a half above the dirt. In this big planter I throw wheat and flax seed and water it through the welded wire. As the plants grow up through the welded wire the chickens graze on it. Now my question is, is the flax plant as good as eating the seeds or am I wasting my time letting them eat the plant when I should wait til the plant goes to seed? What do you think?

 

[glorialuver123]

well we get the flaxseed whole. we just mix the seeds into there feed, they don't taste it! but now they devore there food! then we just sprinkle on the top! like a birtday cake! but we buy ours at an organic food store. i would definatly just get the seeds and sprinkle it in there!

glorialuver123

 

[glorialuver123]

someone told us that some sort of wheat grass? i don't really remember, but they said, if u grow that, and grow it in a tray and put it in there little "pasture" that they love it and it doesn't destroy your grass, they say they love it?

 

[s6bee]

I read the wheat grass thing too. I haven't been able to find it around here to grow, I really hate to order grass seed! My local Organic food store said they'll look into carrying it because I was the 4th person to ask for it.
I fed my chicks flaxseed, but whole, they don't care for it. So I'm going to try it ground up. They are very picky eaters. They really like steel cut oats though. We give that as a treat when we hold them.

 

[equine chick]

Feeding flaxseed whole does not get processed as well for nutrition than feeding ground.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

It's better if you grind it just before you feed it, too, if you can. It keeps the oil in it from oxidizing.

 

[Crittercountry]

Quote:
I've noticed that our whole flax seed is a LOT cheaper than the ground flax seed too.

 

[SandraChick]

I get wheat seeds from the feed store...ask them for
WHEAT GRASS? they go HUH?
Ask them for wheat seeds to grow wheat...they go here's a 50# bag!

Sandra

 

[Crittercountry]

Quote:
Ask them for FEED wheat. They will have to order it. Ask them if they order from Faithway or Central (depending on where you live, they may go HUH? again). They both carry feed wheat, or at least used to.

 

[Whitewater]

I am bringing this thread back because I have a question about feeding flax and can't seem to find an answer anywhere!

Our local big box grocery store has quite a nice selection of organic stuff, including that Red Mill flax seed -- but they have a half a dozen different varieties! I don't know which to get for the pullets we will hopefully be taking home at the end of June. Help?

As I understand it, I want to get ground, organic flax seed . . . does it matter which color? The store has a dark brown flax seed and a light brown flax. Is there a difference? Which should I get for the chickens?

(And they're going to be at least 16 weeks old when we get them, probably closer to 17 weeks, can I just start them on layer pellets when we get them home? Or do I have to get a whole bag of starter feed and only switch to layer when they start laying?)

I plan to let them out of their run quite a lot in the summertime, dunno if they'll want to come out in winter! LOL! But we have lots of green stuff they can eat, and our garden will produce a lot of extra veggies, so I'm not worried about any of that stuff.

I just can't figure out which kind of flax to supplement them with.

Thoughts?


Whitewater