Swheat

[HEChicken]

I have used Swheat (basically cracked wheat) as a cat litter for years but am switching to another brand. I have a half bag of Swheat left and started wondering if I could feed it to the chooks. I looked up the Swheat website and it says there are no chemicals or additives but I'm still a little concerned about trying it. Has anyone else fed this stuff?

 

[canada-goose]

You could email the company. They might know. I would probably not feed the chickens something like that.

 

[HEChicken]

Yeah, I tried that and the email bounced back to me immediately as undeliverable - I guess they changed email addresses and never updated their website. I'm curious why you wouldn't feed cracked wheat (if in fact it turns out that is all it is, which is what it states on the packaging and the website)?

 

[Katy]

If all it is is cracked wheat then you could feed it. I feed wheat to mine all the time as scratch. I tried that litter for a while quite awhile ago, but I don't remember what it looked like.

 

[canada-goose]

Quote:
Well, I think anything marketed for cat litter rather than feed might be questionable. Maybe I'm being silly but it seems wrong.

 

[Mattemma]

Did you end up using the swheat? I added swheat to the litter in the coop and the hens eat it. I switched due to the pine I was using was so fine/dusty.Now ofcourse I worry about them eating the wheat litter!

 

[HEChicken]

I actually haven't - yet. I saw the bag in the garage yesterday and realized I had never got around to trying it. What I'm thinking about doing now, is: when my vegie garden is done for the year (not long now), take down the poultry fence that has been keeping the chooks out of the vegies, and put the Swheat down as mulch (the swheat website gave the idea for using it as mulch). I had planned to let the chooks go to town on the vegie remnants anyway (like the pea plants, remains of the Swiss Chard etc) so if the Swheat is out there on the ground, they can peck at it if they want to, leave it alone if they don't. I'm really glad to hear yours have had some with no apparent ill effects.

 

[HEChicken]

I thought I'd post an update to this. I finally got around to trying it yesterday. The Swheat website said that after the Swheat has been scooped out, the remainder CAN be used as mulch. I decided to try using it as a mulch and if the chickens wanted to try it, they could, but if they didn't, it would still serve its purpose. Well, I have to say this was a HUGE success. It took the chooks no time at all to find it and they spent most of the rest of the day scratching through it, eating it, tilling the ground and just generally having a good time. By the end of the day, it had been so worked into the ground that we couldn't even see it, but this morning, they headed there directly from the coop, not even stopping to get a drink of water on the way!

I only used half of my leftover Swheat so plan to leave it a week or so until they have thoroughly worked the ground, and then use the remainder, so they can have another week or so of "hard work" tilling my future garden beds

 

[chateau poulet]

My neighbor donated a bag of Swheat to me, for my cat, since his cats didn't like it. I decided to throw a handful to my hens to see what they'd do. I had searched online and only found references to it being all natural, etc. I also emailed the company asking what the ingredients are, if anything other than wheat, but got no response. So, I threw a handful and they went crazy. The next day I did it again, and have been tossing some to them, in the dirt, each day. I'm not sure I'd actually give them a bowl of it, but they do like it. I'm helping a neighbor with her coop, trying to figure out ways to keep the smell down, so we added Swheat, DE, and aspen shavings (Petco) to the dirt run, and it seems to be helping a lot. It had gotten sort of muddy and stinky, and now it's sort of fresh, and the chickens are rolling around and pecking away and scratching for the Swheat. If anything changes, I'll update this, but so far, it seems to be a good way to absorb some moisture and odor, and also entertain the girls.