What Do I Do With Wheat?

[Barry Natchitoches]

I was given about 75 pounds of livestock quality wheat.


I also have about 100 pounds of oats already, and about 100 pounds of black oil sunflower seed.


How do I serve this to my chickens? Does it have to be ground first? Is this a "treat" ration (I KNOW that BOSS is considered a "treat", but what about wheat or oats?), or is this to be served as part of a regular ration mix?


If it should be served as part of a regular ration mix, what else should I mix in to create a balanced diet (keeping in mind that I WILL NOT give my chickens GMO corn or soybeans)?


Do these grains have to be ground, or can the birds eat them whole?

 

[Katy]

I throw them all out as scratch. Whole, not ground.

 

[al6517]

Lucky find............... if I were you I 'd mix it in with a few bags of layer feed and make a nice higher protien layer ration with the benny's of BOSS.

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

Quote:
Yeah but if you do it like that won't the chickens just dig out the treats and cause a lot of food waste?

 

[al6517]

Sometimes I suppose, I feed my birds custom mixes all the time regularly and haven't found it to the case. So maybe if your birds are finicky mix up a small batch and check it out, if it doesn't work I think the scratch Idea Katy suggested is a good one. I guess I don't coddle my birds like most BYCer's they eat what I give them when I give it, so normaly there isn't an issue.

 

[exop]

Soaking whole wheat overnight in water swells the kernels and seems to make them "yummier" from the chicken's point of view. Softer, easier to digest and perhaps a little more nutritious because of changes in the grain as it gets ready to germinate. I drain mine though a mesh sieve and serve it as a scratch grain,

Best - exop

 

[OneTenthAcreAndAChicken]

Can you brew some wheat beer first - then give 'em the spent grains???

 

[SebrightLuver]

I just throw it on the ground and they pick at it, keeps them entertained.

 

[gale65]

I just throw it on the ground and they go nuts over it. My dh is a crop farmer so he saved some out for me when he cut wheat this summer.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
That's where I get mine too. We farm and I always save some back when we're harvesting. After corn harvest I go out and gather up ears that the combine missed...they love pecking the corn off the ears.