Doubt about our supplements (long)

[Guest guest]

Wayne, did you & your friend decide to grind the flax for the

chickens? I simply accustomed to grinding it for I HAVE to health

wise due to the toxins when feeding the animals. I would tend to

think that so long as the chickens had access to enough grit they

should be just fine on whole flax. After all it is a chicken & their

little pouch of stored grit should break the flax seed hull just

fine. But then what do I know???

 

Something that has me wondering too in the article touting a hoped

increase of flax fed to livestock was if the farmers were going to

feed flax that did not already have the oil pressed out of it, are

they going to feed the flax whole to the cows? Does the cow having 4

stomachs make a difference? Were the farmers going to grind it?

That would be labor intensive; & then how soon before the ground flax

would be fed before it started losing value?

 

What is popular here NOW are large bags of ground flax in the feed

stores. The horse owners are learning they are supposed to feed

ground flax; though they are not taught of how soon that ground flax

starts going rancid. So in actuality the " old " ground flax they are

feeding their horses is just as bad as if they were feeding whole

flax.

 

I read of someone feeding bird sunflower seeds from Wal-Mrt hulls &

all to their horses for the oils. I gasped, recovered & said a few

words about how toxin covered the shells are! Though it has induced

me to throw in a handful of fine chopped sunflower seeds into the

horse feed. I do not feed them whole for I think they might poop out

undigested. Since I am already grinding anyway, it is no biggy to

throw the sunflower seeds in too. They are just some old ones I have

left over. I am going to look into the economics of buying bags just

for feed.

 

Also I grind up some almonds on a regular basis. And I throw in

chopped dried rose hips. Spirulina. Kelp. Soak my WHOLE oats in

water with apple cider vinegar. The vinegar is supposed to help with

entroliths (sp?) (stones), though I am not sure about changing their

acidity level. Thus due to the vinegar there is a free choice

chelated calcium they have access too. I figure the horses will

instinctively eat what they need of the calcium. (That is how the

product is marketed for use.)

 

Let's see, after I chemically worm I add kefir into the feed. Yep,

the horses just love it & gobble it up. Helps to restore the flora

in the intestines that the wormer just destroyed. Before anyone else

with horses on the list has a cow over this, go back through horse

history & what did the Arabs feed their highly prized mares?

Fermented milk! Exactly what kefir is. Regretfully I am not 100%

assured that feeding diatomaceous earth is the perfect wormer for all

the horse issues. I have far too much money into the horses to risk

this one area to a totally organic regimen.

 

Then there is the assorted herbs I grow. Some are directly in the

paddocks so the horses can eat them as needed at will. Others are

not. Wayne, I would highly suggest an assortment of herbs that your

chickens could choose from. I am sure it could cause a taste change

though in their meat/eggs. Probably for the better. LOL. No, off

hand I do not have direct suggestions as to which herbs at the moment.

 

Do you have a worm bin for compost? How about tossing your chickens

some worms?

 

Okay, I'll stop boring everyone for the moment, though I do hope one

or two of you may have picked up ideas! *grin*