Gluten Free Chickens?

[talia rose]

Our family has sensitive enough food allergies that we cannot eat eggs if the chicken has eaten (gluten) grain. So, in September we began raising gluten free chickens. I never imagined I would enjoy them so much! We began with a flock of 6 grown hens (from craigslist) as we could not tolerate another winter without eggs. We are now up to 9 adults and 6 chicks. The chicks are in a box in our house and we are giving them the standard (antibiotic-free) feed which we figured would be okay as they are not laying yet but what a gluten contamination mess in our house! my daughter can't help picking the chicks up all day long and boom! contamination! so we will get rid of that feed as soon as the bag is gone. meanwhile i am giving them soft compost to gear them up for gluten free life.

I would love to know if there are others out there raising gluten free chickens! I would love to connect about what you feed them and other aspects of raising chickens in a unique way....

[camprunner]

subbing...we are gluten free but feed our chickens regular chicken feed. I never thought about it being a problem.

[talia rose]

for many people it is not a problem. Most people probably. we are fortunate enough to have a kinisiologist who raises gluten free chickens and so can test us on both eggs from chickens who did eat gluten and eggs from chickens who did not. my daughter and i are super sensitive - we also cannot eat anything processed in a facility with gluten, soy or dairy.

[JamieCatheryn]

So I'm curious, what mix of feed will you be giving them, do go GF? Will you also be going soy-free?

[talia rose]

right now i am giving them split peas and rice. i cook this in my solar oven or put it in when i am baking something. one batch in my big corning ware lasts 3 days. i got into this crazy thing of cooking for my chickens because we bought them full grown off craigslist and they were used to eating soft feed and could not handle raw peas. to this i add flax seeds, oyster shells, and as available, ground up compost. i noticed they were not eating big chunks of hard compost so i just grind up what i have in our food processor. this means i can use every bit of broccoli stems, which they love, and peels ect. i also grind up our eggshells after they have dried up. they also get a scratch made of cracked corn and sunflower seeds.

in the summer when it is very dry and not much green here i go to our community farm and they let me take broccolli leaves and stems from them to supplement.

yes they are soy free as well. and they free range so they get a lot that way. i have two friends who are also raising gluten free chickens and neither of them cook, but they raised from chicks so can feed raw split peas, ect.

I would love other ideas of what they can eat. our new chicks will be better able to handle non-cooked food, as are other adults we have gotten who were fed compost ect all along....

[StrongBeliever]

I don't do gluten free, but I find the concept very interesting. I have done completely corn and soy free in the past to eliminate the bulk of GMO grains, from just hatched chick to adult bird tailoring their whole diet myself. It sounds like you have it all under control... Way to go on finding a lot of different resources to give your birds a varied and nutritious diet. If birds are allowed to free range they can glean enough to complete any missing pieces in their diets.

I don't know if you have garden space, but there are so many things that chickens love that are easy to grow. Pumpkins are great... They love the fruit as much as the seeds inside(
which makes me think of a jack-o-lantern roundup in metro areas, maybe?) Sunflowers and millet are easy to grow... Basically you work a big patch of soil and pour a bag of birdseed over it and watch it grow. Swiss chard is EASY to grow and chickens LOVE it.

Just an FYI... Beans are toxic to chickens. Cooked beans are okay. Don't know if you'll ever need that info, but it never hurts to share.

[lil_miss_understood]

subbing

[talia rose]

I am still interested in hearing about any foods given to hens besides feed....

[JamieCatheryn]

http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/...3-Treats_Chart

[talia rose]

THANK YOU for that list!