Barley vs Wheat! Help?

[mooSa]

Hi, Ive been feeding my chickens mainly wheat over barley. I recently bought 1 ton of barley and 1 ton of wheat. Both are Pure and Organic, of the best kind. Anyways my chickens prefer to eat wheat over barley and I was wondering what are the nutritional differences between both of them are? My hens also roam free all day. Should i just stop giving them barley? or keep mixing both?

 

[dlhunicorn]

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/201200.htm
"...C perfringens is a nearly ubiquitous bacteria readily found in soil, dust, feces, feed, and used poultry litter. It is also a normal inhabitant of the intestines of healthy chickens. The enterotoxemia that results in clinical disease most often occurs either following an alteration in the intestinal microflora or from a condition that results in damage to the intestinal mucosa (eg, coccidiosis, mycotoxicosis, salmonellosis, ascarid larvae). High dietary levels of animal byproducts (eg, fishmeal), wheat, barley, oats, or rye predispose birds to the disease. Anything that promotes excessive bacterial growth and toxin production or slows feed passage rate in the small intestine could promote the occurrence of necrotic enteritis. ..."

http://www.poultryindustrycouncil.ca/pdf/Research Results/Research Results PIC 142.pdf

 

[PAJerry]

I tried barley and my chickens wouldn't eat it and that has been the experience of others I have talked to. Wheat is preferred. All last winter, I sprouted wheat for my hens and they ate all of it and thrived.

 

[dlhunicorn]

Quote:
SPROUTING the wheat is the way to go... an absolutely fantastic source of nutrients , particularly in the winter when fresh green from foraging is unavailable!

 

[fiberart57]

Mine get a homemade scratch mix of wheat, oats and BOSS before bed. It's just a treat and is in no way the bulk of their nutrition. They get chicken feed for that. It took them a while to warm up to the wheat, the oats they liked, but now they really look forward to it.

Mary

 

[mooSa]

Yea i looked up the nutritional contents of wheat and barley, and wheat has much more in every category, but with much higher fat. But all in all i think ill just stick to wheat.