The Walden Effect: Homesteading Year 5. Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Pinto bean sprout results

lucyThe chickens seem to enjoy eating the new pinto bean sprouts. No surprise there. I give them about a handful a day.

I didn't expect our dog, Lucy to be so enthusiastic about the new source of protein and vitamins. We have decided it makes a good supplement to her current dog food, which is mainly corn and other various dog food ingredients if you believe what's printed on the bag.

This experiment has caused me to seriously consider changing from store bought dog food to a home made mixture. There is way too much information on the internet to sort through it all on this topic, but it seems the only food items you should avoid are onions, grapes, and raisins.

This post is part of our Sprouting Beans for Chickens series.  Read all of the entries:





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you got me.

why would you avoid grapes, onions, raisons to feed your chickens?i like the bean sprout idea.or was that for the dog?

Comment by marla frye — Saturday evening, March 20th, 2010
comment 2

You avoid grapes, onions, and raisins for your dog. Not sure why --- there must be something in there that's bad for them!

(Although, I've also read you shouldn't feed onions to your chickens because it'll affect the flavor of the eggs. But I never paid attention to that, and our eggs taste great. :-) )

Technically, the bean sprouts are for the chickens --- sprouting is supposed to increase the nutrients and digestability for them. But Lucy seemed enthused too.

Comment by anna — Saturday evening, March 20th, 2010
comment 3
For some unknown reason, grapes and raisins are toxic to dogs. It seems to vary as to how much will kill a dog, with some dogs just a couple is enough, with other dogs it takes an entire box of raisins. Onions and garlic have a substance in them that impairs clotting. Dogs and birds are more sensitive to this substance that we are. If they are given too much it can result in hemphelia.
Comment by Anonymous — early Monday morning, March 22nd, 2010
comment 4
That makes sense. Thanks for chiming in!
Comment by anna — Monday evening, March 22nd, 2010
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