Little black seeds?

I buy grain screenings from the local seed cleaning cooperative. Usually I get a mixture of oats, wheat, barley, BOSS, and peas. Well this time I have a bag of little black seeds. Tiny and round. All you real farmers out there, what are they? I think they are canola. Will chickens eat them? Should chickens eat them? Are they probably GMO? Will the chickens grow two heads? If they don't eat them all and they sprout and make little canola plants will the GMO police take me away? Should I stop asking all these questions?

Hmmm?

Canola and they can eat them, you can too.

Canola and they can eat them, you can too.

Will I grow two heads if I eat them?

Seriously... What do they taste like? How do you prepare them?

Canola seeds are very good for them, high in fat (canola oil) but it may take a while for them to get onto them. Some animals don't find them very palatable.

Schipperkesue wrote:Will I grow two heads if I eat them?

Seriously... What do they taste like? How do you prepare them?

Can I watch you eat one???? "excited"

My chickens would not eat them but they loved rolling in the canola!!

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Canola has a mild mustard flavour. I don't find it offensive. I don't know about the possibility of GMO. It would depend on what your local farmers like to grow. If it were here, I would say 15-20% round-up ready. Conventional seed, hybrid and GMO all go into the same bin in the elevator. As for the possibility of you growing 2 heads....I am not getting into that one.

Well, I gave them some, and within minutes...

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I am sure that technology could somehow be harnesses for use by KFC. If we could figure out how to make them grow more legs there could be enough drumsticks in the bucket for everyone. Need to go to sleep. Too much wine.....posts could start getting ugly.

Ugly? From you? Never, BA!

Now if you want four drumsticks, raise rabbits!

Schipperkesue wrote:Are they probably GMO?

Most likely. Most canola varieties are GMO in one way or another, whether it's round up ready or a variety that is supposed to resist sclerotinia ... I'd say it would be hard to find a "heritage" canola seed producer these days.

I try to avoid using canola oil and margarine, which might tell you something, since my husband GROWS canola and I should really support the industry by using it. Unfortunately, I've seen the crap they spray on the plants and I don't want my family eating that. Between the round up and then maybe spraying again to control the Bertha Armyworms, canola is usually cloaked in chemical by the time it gets harvested.

I'm not a tree-hugger or conspiracy theorist or anything, I just don't like all the chemicals in our food.

Snap Sue! You started without telling me!

Sue, I have been mixing in some screenings from our local pea sorting facility and along with weed seeds, pea bits etc there is also some canola in there. So far no 2 headed chicks!
After a bit of experimenting with good feed mixes I've settled into using quite an assortment of grains, seeds and peas along with a mineral/protein supplement. I've been using just one small scoop of the screenings in a 5 gallon bucket since I found too much tended to cause some runny poops, I thought possibly from the oil in the canola. I do find they will often overlook the canola anyway since the seeds are so tiny. They prefer the larger grains. Anyway, I've never had birds with such glossy, healthy looking feathers, so something seems to be working well.

Poppy seeds are small and black.

You might have a very valuable crop there...

We are talking about the poppy seeds one would find on a bagel? Right?

toybarons wrote:We are talking about the poppy seeds one would find on a bagel? Right?

Would that be referred to as a CASH crop?

Schipperkesue wrote:Would that be referred to as a CASH crop?

Sure. I love poppy seed bagels

Yes! Stick to that story!

"I'm growing them for my bagels, Officer."