Rolled oats and flax seed?

[flockof4]

Ditto. Rolled oats cooked or raw = good treat. Good as part of a scratch mix, but a little pricey.

 

[Patlu]

Have you read anything about flax seed being toxic? I have started to give my girls some as a treat and then thought I had better ask.::

 

[Chris09]

Have you read anything about flax seed being toxic? I have started to give my girls some as a treat and then thought I had better ask.::

A little goes a long way with Linseed/Flax Seed and too much can do more harm than good.

I myself do not and will not feed it. Way too many cons and not enough pros in feeding it.
Here is a quote from University of California, Avian Sciences Department.




Quote:
Note that 2 to 3 percent of there diet would be 2 or 3 pounds of Linseed per 97 to 98 pounds of there regular feed.


Chris

 

[Mskayladog]

[VIDEO][/VIDEO]I brought a new bag of birdseed, I use it to convince my chicks to come back to the coop . I throw less then 1/2 cup on the ground for 16 chicks. The new seed has flax seed in it. Should I return it?

 

[Patlu]

Thank you for your response...re flax seed. I guess I will not give it to them any more since it sounds harmful according to that article. They will be unhappy cuz they really went wild for it. I will just stick with oats,corn and sunflower seeds. Thanks again.

 

[bairo]

Quote: Ditto....Nature never intended a high omega 3 content in eggs. People do need more omega 3's in their diet, but I think eating it from naturally occurring sources is much better than trying to artificially introduce it into other foods..besides it is much easier to sprinkle a tablespoon of flax on your cereal each day than to feed it to chickens and then eat the eggs for it.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Ditto....Nature never intended a high omega 3 content in eggs. People do need more omega 3's in their diet, but I think eating it from naturally occurring sources is much better than trying to artificially introduce it into other foods..besides it is much easier to sprinkle a tablespoon of flax on your cereal each day than to feed it to chickens and then eat the eggs for it.

Eggs will naturally have higher Omega 3 if the chickens eat grass & other greens. So nature may have intended eggs to have higher Omega 3 by having chickens live the way they were meant to, not by supplementing in a cage like the poultry industry does.

 

[bairo]

Quote: True to an extent. Yes a chicken that free ranges every day will indeed eat grass and pick up some more DHA....but hardly enough to make a big difference. Chickens will and do eat grass but prefer grains, seeds, and bugs when available. No matter how much grass a hen may eat, her eggs will never be the "ideal" 1 to 4 omega 3 to 6 ratio that nutritionists want us to have. With all that said...you make a good point about the poultry industry of course, and that is a big reason that many of us have these small backyard flocks. I was only speaking in generalities about eggs because so many people and the industry itself is hammering home this big thing about increasing omega 3 in eggs, I tend to be a purist and say "eat more fish" and "grass fed beef" along with a healthy varied diet instead of pushing flax into everything. Flax is bad news for chickens.