Whole Corn Vs Cracked Corn, What do you use?

[casportpony]

What mine don't eat in a day gets fed to the chickens.

-Kathy

 

[MinxFox]

That is a good solution! I am probably alone in that I just have peafowl and no other birds...I wonder if the dog would eat corn...She drinks coffee.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

JoeG,,I'm by no means a nutritionalist for avian birds,or poultry. I've had significant issues buying shipped fertile hatching eggs,had some less than stellar hatch rates on my own birds here in some varieties the past two years,until I started devoting tons of time into feed nutrition.I've made phone calls,picked the minds of feed nutrition experts to come up with a tested home based feed far superior that is specific to peafowl that cannot be purchased or made commercially.
For peafowl to get much of any feed value from yellow corn,it needs to be "cracked". The other layer or "seed coat" as it's called is hard and even when whole corn is fed to cattle,you will see the entire kernal of corn in their manure,just as they swallwed it.Granted cattle being "ruminents" are not as effective when it comes to breaking down feedstuffs,but peafowls digestive tracts are much diffrent and shorter.I've been told small seeds similar in size to Millet and Milo can be completely be broken down and digested by peafowl but anything larger must be cracked or the seed coat broken to allow the protein and minerals to be absorbed by the peafowls gut. My peas also come running for whole kernal corn,just as my chickens do.But I also watch me peas specifically choose cracked corn from their ration and eat it first. Maybe it's a "get full faster" habit when they see large yellow kernals? Energy comes from protein,,and corn isn't outstanding when it comes to protein levels,normally less than 8%.

 

[casportpony]

That's the reason I feed rolled corn to the ducks.

-Kathy

 

[AugeredIn]

We use both but we prefer cracked. In a fast moving digestive system , you have to believe that more of the good stuff comes out of cracked. I have never seen rolled corn for sale.

 

[casportpony]

Most feedstores sell rolled corn for horses.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Remember,anything "steamed" or heated to remove oil,ect looses a lot of trace minerals and protein content

 

[casportpony]

Remember,anything "steamed" or heated to remove oil,ect looses a lot of trace minerals and protein content

Don't know if mine is steam rolled or not.

-Kathy

 

[Joe.G]

What is Rolled corn?

 

[casportpony]

Have you ever seen horse feed with corn in it? It looks like corn that's been smashed flat with a hammer, my ducks *love* it!

-Kathy