I'm interested in adding wheat to my pellets

[jducour]

I've been reading up on adding wheat to a ducks diet. I have seen some calculators online, but I wanted to get feedback from real duck owners who are currently trying this out. We have a large food storage, and I wanted to start rotating some of our older wheat out, and bring in new barrels for my family. We have probably a couple thousand pounds of hard white and red wheat in our food storage. Is this ok to give to the ducks? It is still safe for human consumption, but I would like to work through some of the older stuff and our wheat grinder is broken. I thought this would be a win win! Do you mix it directly into the pellets? Offer it in a separate dish for them to decide for themselves? What do you think?

 

[Amiga]

Oooh, ya know what I do in winter? I put a quarter cup of wheat berries in a jar, soak it overnight, then spread them out in a container with small holes in the bottom. I water them once or twice a day for a few days till they just start to sprout, then feed them to the ducks. They love them! Sometimes I let them get 2 or 3 inch blades on them, and the ducks like to nom on the greens, also. It's how I get them fresh leafy stuff in winter.

They would enjoy it any time of year, I know. But especially in winter.

 

[jducour]

Interesteing. I wonder if I can get wheat that old to sprout? It's the hard winter wheat, so not quite as supple as wheat berries. I am currently saving all of my extra garden plants in the freezer for the winter - they will be getting a lot of squash! I guess it wouldn't hurt to try sprouting some of the wheat.

 

[Amiga]

I have been amazed at how well whole grains hold up in storage. Which means, I have sometimes sprouted some wheat that is a little long in the tooth. I consider it an example of grace.

 

[shortgrass]

Yep, I use wheat as one of my main ingredients... But I don't use pellets...I don't think it would hurt; wheat has good digestible fiber and protein is around 14%, so make sure to supplement with higher protein, like alfalfa or soy pellets if you mix it in more than 50%... 1/4 wt wheat with pellets should be no problem