lentil sprouts

[hearthwench]

My little chicks (4 Buffs) will be 1 week old tomorrow. I have some lentils sprouting. Can I let them have them as a treat? Remove the seed cover and chop first? I do have chick grit on hand. I did not see anything about lentils when searching the forum or appropriate age.

I am almost seriously thinking of setting up a chicken-version of an agility playground in their box. We look over at the small room where the chicks are and see one leaping, like it is teying to see over the side. Already. My husband added chick wire a good foot tall to the top, making their box over 2' tall now. I have wire to lay over it to fully enclose them if needed. I had to raise the red heat lamp already. 90°-95° was too warm for them. They stayed on the other side of their box. The chicks are locally hatched here in northern Idaho. They seem to move all over now that that area is around 82°-85°. Weird?

Has anyone ever made them a "playground"? laughing...

I used to have lovebirds, cockatiels and parakeets. A tiny bit of bird history does seem to help, being new at chickens. My birds used to love to play. I am probably being silly thinking about toys for the chicks until they go outside?

Debbi

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Chickens can eat lentils raw but they are higher in tannins than raw split peas, so in adult chickens I would feed them but not too many.

For baby chicks I would not bother (and I would worry that they would be receiving antinutrients when they need to grow). What I do is give them inch long grass clippings and they love that. Make sure to offer chick grit or sand when offering things other than cracked grains (commercial feed).

If the lentil sprouts are the only greens you have to offer then it would be fine but make sure they are very short so as to prevent impacted crop, and you will need to offer grit. I would not allow them to ingest the seed itself being so young.

I am a firm believer in offering greens to chicks very early, to prevent vitamin deficiency (even though the feed has vits).

Just my opinion!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Oh...forgot to mention that they will be flying out of your enclosure soon...you can put metal fencing over it (fireproof) to keep them in. They can jump quite high very soon.

 

[hearthwench]

The lentil sprouts are quite tasty. I removed the little "skin". I will chop the greens, removing the seed, in case. No other greens. I did get my garden ready to plant, finishing today. I never heard of lentils having high tannins. Weird. The sprouts taste like peas. Considering they are a legume, it makes sense. I use them in soups and added to my dog's homemade food to boost the protein. No soy in this house. Ever. Nasty stuff.

I picked up chick grit when I picked up their food the day before they got home. They got a sprinkle of 9-grain cereal I get from Wheat Montana. They took bits from my hand. I left a few bits on a paper towel. They eventually ate it, or it ended up in their bedding.

My husband already made a top for the brooder out of the hardware cloth we will be using for the coop. It was warm, for us, today. 68°! Who boo! We opened up the house, but kept my craft room door closed so the chicks would not get a draft. It was windy and I did not want to take a chance.

I will make kale and/or radish sprouts next. That should be better? Since I started growing most of our food, I finally got my husband to eat " green food". The chickens will get many greens too, besides our meadow when I take them out in their protected run.

Thanks for the input!
Debbi

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...rains-at-the-grocery-store-for-this-winter/10
post #16 I wrote awhile ago