Two Feed Quetions ... Advice

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

#1
I have two, 10 gallon buckets full of wheat seed, how much protein does it have? I just been mixing it with my layer pellets. They don't like it as much ... but they still eat it.



#2
Somebody gave me a bag of Cedar shavings and inside of it were 2 bags of Hamster/Gerbil Formula .. can I feed it to my chickens?



Thanks -

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

oooohhh something I know!!!!

Soft white wheat has 10% protein. Hard red wheat has 17.8% protein. If you don't know what kind it is, then if it is from the mid-west, it is probably hard red wheat. Soft white wheat is from the pacific NW is what I have heard.....

 

[sjh]

Acording to this USDA site hard winter wheat is 12.6% protein.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Um, this wheat is kind of a soft red color.

Is it good for them, does it help with anything?

What about the other food?

 

[Chris09]

Wheat fresh pasture - 28%
Wheat silage - 10%
Wheat straw - 4%
Wheat grain - 13%
Wheat grain hard - 14%
Wheat grain soft - 12%
Wheat brand - 18%
Wheat midds - 18%
Wheat mill run - 17%
Wheat shorts - 20%

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/livestk/01615.html

Chris

 

[Tdub4chiks]

I have learned from BYC that Cedar Shavings are bad for chickens. Just thought you should know.

 

[Beekissed]

I used a little cedar mixed in with my pine shavings once and just one of my flock had a reaction. She started to wheeze a good bit. I gave her to a friend that wanted a pet and she wheezed for some time afterwards but it finally cleared up.

I haven't added cedar since then.

I'd feed the gerbil mix to them as treats thrown on the ground. I can't imagine it could hurt. As for the wheat....why not find a grinder and keep it for bread?

Or, better yet, if you really want to give your chickens good nutrition...sprout your wheat and feed the sprouts. This increases the nutritive value quite a bit beyond the actual grain.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Tdub4chiks: Yes, I know that Cedar shavings are toxic.

I used just a little bit of them in the bottom of my nesting boxes, and then put pine shavings on top.

Beekissed: I'll start feeding it to them then!

We already have a ton of wheat in our cellar that we grind up into flour and make bread with it.

We planted one of our field by the house in wheat, it's right by the chicken pen. It's starting to sprout so the chickens have been gobbling in up. Last year oats sprouted and the chickens went nutZ over'em!

 

[BWKatz]

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy :

Tdub4chiks: Yes, I know that Cedar shavings are toxic.

I used just a little bit of them in the bottom of my nesting boxes, and then put pine shavings on top.

Beekissed: I'll start feeding it to them then!

We already have a ton of wheat in our cellar that we grind up into flour and make bread with it.

We planted one of our field by the house in wheat, it's right by the chicken pen. It's starting to sprout so the chickens have been gobbling in up. Last year oats sprouted and the chickens went nutZ over'em!

Sounds like ur chickens have it made!!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
Oh thank you (and the other poster too) for the correction. Luckily I have been heavy on the wheat BRAN so the website I got my misinformation from didn't damage my chickens!!!

I will have to recalculate my feed recipe for 14% protein instead of 17% (wheat).

I'm sorry Mrs. Fluffy Puffy for telling you something wrong!!!