I have fed my chickens flax seeds for a couple of years now. I never had the eggs tested, but I would be very curious to do so, just to see what the Omega-3 content is. I mostly supplement during winter months, because they do a lot of free ranging when the weather is warm and from what I have read, free ranging greatly increases the Omega-3 content as well. The only problem I've had is that they don't really love the stuff. They'll eat it if I throw some on the ground for them, but when I tried mixing it in with their feed, they picked out the feed and all the flax was left in a pile at the bottom of the feeder. I guess they like it OK as a snack, but there are other snacks they like better, such as commercial bird seed. I've also been curious about that - how does the sunflower seeds, millet, etc in bird seed affect the fat content of the eggs? -Diggity

I have read that when flowers are hybridized they lack the same amount of nectar and pollen than before. Yes, as I said above, that is true for some hybrid flowers. It all depends on the degree of hybridization, the genetic changes that are made by the hybridization - what genes are messed with. :) What determines the resulting changes is whatever the purpose of hybridizing the particular flower is - EX: different color genes won't affect nectar or pollen production, but size/height/flower diameter genes may affect it but they could make it more or less, etc. Some hybrids are created specifically to produce greater amounts of pollen. Hybridizing for sex purposes - all female or all male would definitely affect the nectar production. So in other words it isn't an all or nothing issue in as that statement would imply. Some hybrids may produce less nectar, some may produce more, some may be unaffected. See what I mean? If you want to get deep into the subject and the botany and biochemistry of it here is one good article. all the marigolds I bought to put in my garden, only to learn that I needed to buy French Marigolds in order to attract the beneficial insects. Don't know where that info came from as many species of marigolds are considered attractors. Same goes for most varieties of sunflowers, cosmos, celosia, all the salvias, 4 o'clocks, columbine, etc. And don't forget the herbs. Many of them, if left to bloom are very attractive to all the pollinators. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Check out this discussion and pics

Thanks Ann,...looks like you're doing your part in providing for bees. Anything you can plant for them is better then none, I'm fortunate to grow a large garden. This borage plot is re-seeding every year and going now about five years, plow in the fall and till in spring, fallen seeds are in the ground and sprout up. I add some sunflower, bird seeds, which is a good pollen source for late season. Poppies is another one I like. Weeding by hand is the only major hard work. This is a larger borage farmers field.

I got mine in the mail today, thanks for the tip!