Suggestions for a wheat/barley-free mix?

[boysmom]

I think I'll probably try a recipe similar to this one this year, to see how the birds' health responds.

I did want to address the suggestion I've seen a few times to just wear a face mask. My first reaction was that a mask will make it even harder to breathe in the heat and humidity of summer. While that may be a problem for me, I think the bigger problem is the logistics. Reusing a mask greatly increases the risk of some of the dust getting into the inside, where I would still be inhaling it in close quarters, and the only other option would be a new mask every time, which is going to get pretty expensive. The dust is pretty fine, so I don't think a cloth tied around my face (that I could wash frequently) would be sufficient.

Fresh homegrown eggs have become a staple in our house. It's a great, high nutrition protein source, which is important since I don't digest foods properly, and I don't have to worry about how the hens or eggs were handled before I got them. Besides that I've really enjoyed watching my birds, so I don't want to give them up. I'll just have to work harder to make sure they have what they need and still protect myself.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I used yours and a few others for a base. Now that I've had the chicks three days, I'm understanding the recipes more, as I observe them. I made them a mix of cornmeal, millet, oatmeal, brown rice, ground alfalfa pellets, molasses, bit of salt. They loved it when I brought them home. Put probiotics and vitamins in their water. But then I soaked some cracked corn in a bit of water, and boy, they went for that. So I soaked the cracked corn, and just a bit of the corn meal, rice cereal found in the refrig., oat cereal, and a bit of dried milk. They love this mixture, and I'm actually able to see what this is supposed to be. It is no trouble to mix in small quantities for the day.

I've read several recipes with cod liver oil, but have to get out to buy some, as well as yeast and dolomite powder. Do I have to get these at the health food store?

Thanks so much for posting. I am fortunate that the feed store owner has a gluten-intolerant grandson who was very sick before diagnosis. When I saw the little chicks in the brooders and the chick starter all over everything and them, I knew I had made the right decision for me to feed gluten free. There's no way to have that in the house, even in your chicken coop, and not get it all over. People who are not celiac don't understand this, but those whose been sick or had sick relatives really know the seriousness.



Quote:
It sounds like you might need to increase your protein somewhat (NanaRose) but I am not sure since you are adding milk. Here is another document from the 1940's that might assist you:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/bba01s12.html
this website mentions milk powder in chick rations is why I posted it

(I am sure that your protein will increase as you add brewers yeast and other things as you mentioned.)
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/bba01s23.html
and here are modern comments on that 1940's document...note they recommend less salt, etc.

Here is another website with milk powder:
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Recipes_for_homemade_starter_and_grower_chicken_feeds/

(I have fed milk powder to my chickens before and it worked out fine.)

I think sometimes it helps to see what the old-timers have done since we don't want to feed the commercial stuff.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I edited post #22.

 

[NanaRose]

I am certain I need more protein, well, by the scientists' standards, but I'm trying now to simply keep my chicks reasonably healthy without losing my mind. I just can't find all the stuff in all these recipes, am earning to work with what is at hand. Many of the recipes don't specify really important points. Or I'm just a person with a lot of questions.

Even trying to buy brewer's yeast will likely mean a trip to the healthfood store, and tomorrow I go for jury duty. Life must go on. Thankfully I have a stored supply of hormone-free dried milk, that is what I'm using. It really doesn't seem to take much to feed the chicks at this point. Thankfully! I have a grinder coming and will next week begin adding peas to the mixture. I am going as much as possible the natural grain and seed route. Rice is a very viable substitute, higher in protein than corn. The book Backyard Chickens gave a mixture calling for 65% any two grains listed; rice and corn were my choice. Like adding steel-cut oats (McCann's in my cabinet).

Question: Can the chicks digest the millet at this stage? I just made a new mix without it, because I began to worry they could not. I had not seen much of it strewn in their cage, though. They really just seem very happy chicks.

I'm sincerely grateful for the feedback.

It sounds like you might need to increase your protein somewhat (NanaRose) but I am not sure since you are adding milk. Here is another document from the 1940's that might assist you:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/bba01s12.html
this website mentions milk powder in chick rations is why I posted it

(I am sure that your protein will increase as you add brewers yeast and other things as you mentioned.)
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/bba01s23.html
and here are modern comments on that 1940's document...note they recommend less salt, etc.

Here is another website with milk powder:
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Recipes_for_homemade_starter_and_grower_chicken_feeds/

(I have fed milk powder to my chickens before and it worked out fine.)

I think sometimes it helps to see what the old-timers have done since we don't want to feed the commercial stuff.

 

[NanaRose]

Oops, I need to correct myself. The afore mentioned book was Chickens in Your Backyard, and it listed corn and oats as viable choices of grains. Somewhere twice I saw rice listed as an option in a recipe.

I am certain I need more protein, well, by the scientists' standards, but I'm trying now to simply keep my chicks reasonably healthy without losing my mind. I just can't find all the stuff in all these recipes, am earning to work with what is at hand. Many of the recipes don't specify really important points. Or I'm just a person with a lot of questions.

Even trying to buy brewer's yeast will likely mean a trip to the healthfood store, and tomorrow I go for jury duty. Life must go on. Thankfully I have a stored supply of hormone-free dried milk, that is what I'm using. It really doesn't seem to take much to feed the chicks at this point. Thankfully! I have a grinder coming and will next week begin adding peas to the mixture. I am going as much as possible the natural grain and seed route. Rice is a very viable substitute, higher in protein than corn. The book Backyard Chickens gave a mixture calling for 65% any two grains listed; rice and corn were my choice. Like adding steel-cut oats (McCann's in my cabinet).

Question: Can the chicks digest the millet at this stage? I just made a new mix without it, because I began to worry they could not. I had not seen much of it strewn in their cage, though. They really just seem very happy chicks.

I'm sincerely grateful for the feedback.

 

[1hawaiian]

It sounds like you might need to increase your protein somewhat (NanaRose) but I am not sure since you are adding milk. Here is another document from the 1940's that might assist you:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/bba01s12.html
this website mentions milk powder in chick rations is why I posted it

(I am sure that your protein will increase as you add brewers yeast and other things as you mentioned.)
http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/bba01s23.html
and here are modern comments on that 1940's document...note they recommend less salt, etc.

Here is another website with milk powder:
http://www.avianaquamiser.com/posts/Recipes_for_homemade_starter_and_grower_chicken_feeds/

(I have fed milk powder to my chickens before and it worked out fine.)

I think sometimes it helps to see what the old-timers have done since we don't want to feed the commercial stuff.

I used yours and a few others for a base. Now that I've had the chicks three days, I'm understanding the recipes more, as I observe them. I made them a mix of cornmeal, millet, oatmeal, brown rice, ground alfalfa pellets, molasses, bit of salt. They loved it when I brought them home. Put probiotics and vitamins in their water. But then I soaked some cracked corn in a bit of water, and boy, they went for that. So I soaked the cracked corn, and just a bit of the corn meal, rice cereal found in the refrig., oat cereal, and a bit of dried milk. They love this mixture, and I'm actually able to see what this is supposed to be. It is no trouble to mix in small quantities for the day.

I've read several recipes with cod liver oil, but have to get out to buy some, as well as yeast and dolomite powder. Do I have to get these at the health food store?

Thanks so much for posting. I am fortunate that the feed store owner has a gluten-intolerant grandson who was very sick before diagnosis. When I saw the little chicks in the brooders and the chick starter all over everything and them, I knew I had made the right decision for me to feed gluten free. There's no way to have that in the house, even in your chicken coop, and not get it all over. People who are not celiac don't understand this, but those whose been sick or had sick relatives really know the seriousness.

Y'all....this is really GREAT stuff....my wife was just diagnosed with Celiac and I have 7 yr old daughter we want her to eat gluten-free too!

I'm the camp cook

so I have to LEARN how to feed my family gluten-free recipes and my 4 RIR's as well...my hens are now about 2 months old and eating medicated chick-starter!

The wifey mentioned that she read/heard somewhere that wheat had been MODIFIED for quite some time now because of the AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION as a cheap source of FEED for livestock!

Does anyone have any facts to support this?

I would appreciate more info/details and/or links in regards to this matter...Many thanks!

Thank you!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I am certain I need more protein, well, by the scientists' standards, but I'm trying now to simply keep my chicks reasonably healthy without losing my mind. I just can't find all the stuff in all these recipes, am earning to work with what is at hand. Many of the recipes don't specify really important points. Or I'm just a person with a lot of questions.

Even trying to buy brewer's yeast will likely mean a trip to the healthfood store, and tomorrow I go for jury duty. Life must go on. Thankfully I have a stored supply of hormone-free dried milk, that is what I'm using. It really doesn't seem to take much to feed the chicks at this point. Thankfully! I have a grinder coming and will next week begin adding peas to the mixture. I am going as much as possible the natural grain and seed route. Rice is a very viable substitute, higher in protein than corn. The book Backyard Chickens gave a mixture calling for 65% any two grains listed; rice and corn were my choice. Like adding steel-cut oats (McCann's in my cabinet).

Question: Can the chicks digest the millet at this stage? I just made a new mix without it, because I began to worry they could not. I had not seen much of it strewn in their cage, though. They really just seem very happy chicks.

I'm sincerely grateful for the feedback.

Quote:
Sounds good! Yes, they can eat millet fine because it is a tiny grain. It is 11% protein (baby chicks need 20% protein total) and they will need chick grit in order to digest whole grains. (The grit grinds the food in the gizzard.)

You can either use sand for tiny chicks or use size #1 chick grit from the feed store. Then they need slightly larger grit by age 4 weeks and then size #3 by 7 weeks and up (you can instead give them sharp gravel or let them free range for their grit requirement if they can find stones in the soil).

One thing I forgot to mention is that scrambled egg is perfect chick food. That is what they ate before hatching.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
Yes I have read that the modern wheat has been hybridized etc. but to my knowledge still isn't GMO (as in a fish gene inserted, etc.)

There are ancient wheats such as kamut and spelt.
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1999/v4-182.html

 

[NanaRose]

Dear ChickensAreSweet, thank you for the detailed answer. No sand handy, but I have what the feed store lady called 'salt & pepper', a sort of granite, I think. I do not know the number of it. It is tiny, and easily crumbled finer, too. Do I sort of sprinkle it over the grain ration? How do I know how much? I'm going to add back in the millet then.

Let me just say that I am sure that scientists are far smarter than I, on the other hand, wheat has been pushed as this great food for the past 100 years, and we have all over the world soaring numbers of celiac/ gluten-intolerance. It is estimated that in this country 1 out of every 100 - 130 people have celiac. They have altered the wheat. I read all this years ago, don't have the details. I read a year ago a news item that said there were plans afoot to start messing with rice!

Thanks again!

Sounds good! Yes, they can eat millet fine because it is a tiny grain. It is 11% protein (baby chicks need 20% protein total) and they will need chick grit in order to digest whole grains. (The grit grinds the food in the gizzard.)

You can either use sand for tiny chicks or use size #1 chick grit from the feed store. Then they need slightly larger grit by age 4 weeks and then size #3 by 7 weeks and up (you can instead give them sharp gravel or let them free range for their grit requirement if they can find stones in the soil).

One thing I forgot to mention is that scrambled egg is perfect chick food. That is what they ate before hatching.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Dear ChickensAreSweet, thank you for the detailed answer. No sand handy, but I have what the feed store lady called 'salt & pepper', a sort of granite, I think. I do not know the number of it. It is tiny, and easily crumbled finer, too. Do I sort of sprinkle it over the grain ration? How do I know how much? I'm going to add back in the millet then.

Let me just say that I am sure that scientists are far smarter than I, on the other hand, wheat has been pushed as this great food for the past 100 years, and we have all over the world soaring numbers of celiac/ gluten-intolerance. It is estimated that in this country 1 out of every 100 - 130 people have celiac. They have altered the wheat. I read all this years ago, don't have the details. I read a year ago a news item that said there were plans afoot to start messing with rice!

Thanks again!
Quote:

Baby chicks under two weeks of age should have the grit sprinkled over the food like salt. After two weeks of age they can have a grit hopper. That is when the light bulb goes on in their little heads not to overindulge in grit. This I have found after brooding several batches of chicks.

Enjoy your new babies!