Re: Switching from growers to layers

Krys Francis wrote:
[snip]
> >Curiosity has me...why shouldn't chickens get barley?
> 
> Chickens don't have the enzyme necessary to digest barley, waterfowl do.
> I've read more recently in a research paper, that feeding barley to
> chickens leads to high viscosity in the intestines reducing nutrient
> uptake. So it may be that apart from getting little from the barley as I
> had initially thought, barley may actually be bad for chickens.
> Barley & wheat are usually the cheapest grains available in UK & wheat,
> at least, often makes up a large part of pellet & mash feeds. Barley is
> sometimes an ingredient too but then the enzyme needed for digestion is
> also added to the feed. In a scratch grain feed I can't see that the
> enzyme would be added, but I could be wrong.

> Regards
> 
> Krys
> www.lluestfarmpoultry.co.uk

I have heard that before but I also have a 1999 Livestock Nutrition
Textbook here which states that barley may be used as the sole grain
component in a ration for layers  but that it would be prudent not to
use it at more than 40-50% for the reasons you give (leads to more dirty
eggs) unless beta-Glucanase is added to the feed (i.e. said enzyme). 
For growing birds the limit is given as max 10-20% unless beta-Glucanase
is added.

Conflicting advise...

Cheers,
Ute