wheat and where to find it

[end9586]

Hi all i hae heard great things about feeding chickens wheat and i was wanting some imput so any info would be awesome! also does anyone know a good place to buy wheat off the internet maybe? Or anyone from ky know a good place? all the stores i have called hae either wanted $12 for a 50lb bag or they dont carry it or they can only sell it by the ton and i only have backyard chickens in the city so i dont need nor do i have room for a ton of wheat! any info would be awesome thanks
erica

 

[Organics North]

Hi often times wheat is sold in 60lbs bags.
$12 per 50 does not sound bad.!!!!! IMO the internet and shipping would make the cost super high.
ON

 

[lvesdg1]

not sure about where you live but i am in FL and i get wheat at the store here its called price busters its only like a few lbs but i mix it with their feed along with crushed corn and some wild bird seed they love it ...Just hope it good for them

 

[Chris09]

Most feed mills will have Wheat in stock.

Quote from Poultry Foods and Feeding...

Wheat -
I have always regarded wheat as the best
staple grain food for poultry. In many countries maize
(corn), rye, oats, and barley are chiefly used, as they
are often cheaper than wheat. The value of wheat,
however, is now more generally recognized, and, where
egg production is the main object, it is undoubtedly of
first importance.
There are two main classes of wheat : the hard wheats
with high nitrogen content, and the soft, starchy grains,
generally a third lower in nitrogen. This point has not
been discussed in any book on stock feeding which I
have seen, and yet it is of manifest importance. A
hard wheat with a gluten content of from 12 to 16%
is a better flesh former and egg producer than is a soft,
starchy wheat averaging from 8 to 10% and in many
cases as low as 7% gluten.
When wheat and its mill products, such as bran,
pollard, and wheatmeal, form the main food of poultry,
it is important to know its chemical composition. Tables
such as are usually published can only serve as a very
general guide ; what is required is accurate information
as to local conditions and foods.
Wheat is low in fat, compared with some other grains
and seeds, and it is necessary to make up this deficiency.
It is within the experience of most feeders that when
laying fowls have been fed for a long period on an exclusive
diet of wheat and its mill products, great benefit
results, together with increased egg production, on
a change to, or large addition to the food of, maize,
which has a high fat content. This change is due to the
more natural and more complete metabolism, owing to
the restoration of the " fat " balance."'
The carbohydrate content of wheat varies in proportion
to the percentage of starch in the grain—soft wheats have
a higher starch content than have the hard varieties.
A rough-and-ready method of testing a wheat kernel
is by biting or cutting it in half. If the grain is starchy
the interior of the kernel will be soft, white and floury,
while if of high gluten content the fracture will be short
and the outer layers greyish crystalline, and the flour
area comparatively small.
The fiber content of wheat is low, and, as regards
poultry feeding, may be treated as of comparatively
little importance compared with such grains as barley
and oats. The water content varies according to climate,
and may in a dry climate average 10%, and in a moist
climate up to 15 %, or more.

Chris

 

[snowflake]

chris09 do you make up your owen feed I am going to the grainery today and would like a grain feed good for my layers.what amounts of weat to other grains do you use?

 

[Chris09]

Quote:

chris09 do you make up your owen feed I am going to the grainery today and would like a grain feed good for my layers.what amounts of weat to other grains do you use?

You could say that. What I do is start off with a good commercial poultry mix (Kent Game Bird) then I mix in a grain mix that I came up with.
As far as how much Wheat you can feed, Wheat is a very good grain to have in a feed mix and a lot of breeders I know will offer it free choice in a feeder off to the side just like grit.

Chris

 

[NYREDS]

I feed a lot of wheat. I'm fortunate to have a local farmer I get it from. He uses recycled 100 lb feed bags & he charges $5 per bag.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Wheat does make a nice scratch grain, but it's not a miracle food by any means. I mix it with whole corn and alfalfa pellets and the birds like it right well. Twelve dollars a bag is about fifty cents more than what I usually pay here in the Gainesville, FL area so it's not too bad I suppose. If I couldn't get it I wouldn't be brokenhearted. There are other feed components to be found.

Which is a good thing because just at the moment feed wheat is not to be found in my area. The only feed store in the area that I know of that carries wheat has not been able to get any in for the last two weeks. Their distributor (FRM or Flint River Mills) says they are out and don't know when they'll be able to get more. I'm going back to whole oats now until the situation changes.

At the moment whole corn is going for eight dollars a bag around here which is why I use a lot more of it than wheat.

Do a Google on "feed wheat" and shortage then you'll understand what's going on.