please advise me-fairly new to chicken keeping

Hulled sunflower seeds have had the shells removed, leaving the kernels ready to eat. When the seeds come off the plant they are contained in a hard indigestible shell. Some wild bird food mixes leave the shells on as the birds can shell them, but it makes a lot of mess under the bird feeders. The hulled kind is more digestible and thus more suitable to feed to poorly chickens in a warm mash as a protein supplement.
 
Sunflower seeds as sold for wild bird food (or parrots) still have the black husk on. They make a dreadful mess under the bird table. Hulled sunflower seeds are what you would buy for eating yourself, in a health food shop or the "healthy" section in a supermarket. But find somewhere to buy them in bulk for your hens, not in 200g pretty packs!
 
Thanks - that was what I thought you would reply - wasnt sure though!! I have silkies who are perfectly healthy and just have a bag of sunflower seeds that I bought for the birds - would it be safe to give them unhulled to them or would they be ill?
 
Depends whether they can crack the black shell - Marigold or someone else will know better than me. Were you going to give them as treats or in a mash? If the latter they would definitely need to be hulled.
 
Better wait for a more experienced person to respond then - I gave mine hulled seeds as treats. Doubt if they'd be "ill" but they may not be able to crack them and they might swallow bits of husk - I don't think all wild birds can deal with the husks, think it depends on the shape of the beak. You could always hull them first! :lol: :-)07
 
We've been feeding our chickens mixed corn for three years now. There are whole sunflower seeds in the mix. Some hens go just for them initially, even though they have the shells on, without adverse effects. The poos have no obvious sign of the seeds in them so presumably the gizzard breaks the shell off. Whether they digest properly though I don't know. Wild birds like blue tits break the shell off in their beaks before eating them -I have watched them do it as we had a feeder outside the kitchen window at the old place.

I bought a 20Kg bag of sunflower hearts (hulled sunflower seeds) at an agricultural merchant for £30. There is no issue then about the digestion.
 
If birds are perfectly healthy, then it might be advisable to go easy on the hulled sunflower seeds, maybe the odd few. The protein level is around 50% so pretty high and whilst with poorly birds mixed into a warm mash they would be OK on a very short-term basis, I would restrict them to just a few with fit birds. They are included in mixed corn in a low ratio but these are the unshelled variety and the overall nutritional composition is balanced, thus the digestion and absorption is much lower, most of them are left by the chickens in favour of easier pickings anyhow in mixed corn.
 
Marigold said:
That was the right decision for the Buff Sussex, poor girl. My goodness, if you have a spare afternoon, can you come round and do my run as well?
Click to expand...
lol just to remind you ha ha, im getting really fed up now, as i said the buff sussex was despatched,at the beginning of the week, so im left with a welsummer (moulting) a silver sussex (seems fine but no laying) and a light sussex, who now is spending most of her time asleep! i got hold of her yesterday (she doesnt normally like being picked up or touched) She is very light not much weight to her, she has been eating some warm layers mash with a bit of corn in it i makde them this monring on this horrible cold windy day! i know im going to end up having to have her despatched as well sooner or later, why are all my hens not laying and getting the same symptoms??? im sure that breeder has a problem up there, im trying to convince myself its not something im doing wrong, i cant think of anything, i spoil them rotten, theyre well cared for and properly looked after, so why is this happening???? im fed up and feeling deflated today!
 
The Welsummer and the Silver Sussex are normal for the time of year, though I'm quite surprised at any of them moulting this autumn when they are such young birds. Sorry about your Light Suusex girl, though. I would offer words of comfort if I could think of any, except to say I'm sorry you're having such a rotten and frustrating time with them. Certainly sounds as if the LS isn't eating, doesn't it! Definitely not normal for hens to sleep a lot during the day, and for a hen not very used to being handled to let you pick her up witout struggling, but without seeing her I don't think anyone could really give an informed opinion on her problem. Are her poos normal, if she's doing any? Any discharge from her eyes or nose, or noisy breathing? Can you remember when she laid her last egg? I hope the nice little feeds you are tempting her with will help to keep her going.
 
none of them have laid for ages, cant tell which poos are hers, too cold to stand out there waiting for her to do one! her eyes and noce are clean, and her breathing seems normal, all then hens that have been poorly have all had the same symptoms, stop laying, then limp then lose weight, seem lethargic and cant be arsed to do anything, she does occasional get up and go and have a scratch about and a peck then goes back to sleep.
 
Haven't heard from Impeydoll in a long time. I wonder if she found some good new hens?
Of the two Kentish suppliers that Marigold found on Google, I'd have to recommend avoiding the 2nd one. I went there for a "workshop" before starting to keep hens, & was shocked by the way they were crammed into two barns. Life as a battery hen would be heaven in comparison. :cry:
 
Thanks for that, Icemaiden. As I said in that post, I didn't know anything about these two outfits, but one has to start somewhere, and you were absolutely right to do some first-hand research before thinking about buying any birds. Obviously, as when buying anything, goods or services, there's nothing to beat actual personal recommendation from other happy customers - or the opposite. I could name one near me that should be avoided, for much the same reasons as you stated.
(BTW, my post giving these two firms as examples of where one might start the search occurred on Page 3 of this thread.)
 
Hi Marigold.
Having taken you up on your recommendation of Chalk Hill, I've just posted some photos on the "photos" board.
Not sure why the Longtown Brown isn't on their website yet; maybe it's still "work in progress" from a breeding perspective. I might soon find out :-)02
 
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