Hi all!
Looking to see if anyone knows of an affordable place to buy chia seeds in Canada? I have seen another thread on this from ages ago, and the website this person found (bulknuts.ca) is no longer.
EquineChia/GetChia are out – I am not willing to pay $40-80 for shipping :dead: and BulkBarn is too expensive.
Thanks in advance!
https://www.omfoods.com/seeds-seed-butters/organic-chia-seeds-black/
I buy my Raspberry Leaves from this company along with any other herbal things for animals or people!
Is there a reason you’re set on chia? Flax is almost as good in the nutrient profile, but appreciably cheaper.
Doesn’t chia have more omega3 and less omega6 than flax? Omega3 is better than omega6. Chia seeds help hydrate and help with preventing colic.
I know it is expensive to send USA products to Canada, but could you get 24 or more of the 3 pound pages from getchia at a time and save on shipping? The company does have lower prices the more seeds I buy in the states.
Yes - 4:1 vs 3:1, thereabouts. But the price difference is so much more as to make it not worth it.
Chia seeds help hydrate and help with preventing colic.
Hardly any difference from flax
There’s certainly no harm with chia seeds. But any benefit differences are fairly negligible compared to the significant cost difference.
Choosing chia because I don’t have anywhere to keep flax from spoiling in the summer.
You can buy the ground flax that won’t spoil. But the chia seeds have many more benefits besides the omega3s. Google chia seeds and find out about the benefits in preventing colic and helping with hydration.
I have not had whole flax spoil at any time of year. And wouldn’t chia seeds be just as likely to spoil? Or sprout, and give you a Chia Pet in the tack room? (joke)
lol! I don’t feed whole flax. Only ground or oil, which are both more quick to spoil.
I couldn’t find anything on hydration or colic, except on websites that sell chia products, which I tend to be suspicious of. I did find this: http://www.thehorse.com/articles/36553/chia-or-flax-which-is-better-for-my-horse
I feed whole flax. I get it for $1.00-1.20/lb in bulk in the bulk section at Smart and Final, or online if I can find it for that price, including shipping. I never see whole seeds in my horse’s poop, so I don’t feel any need to switch to ground, although I did feed ground once when they were out of whole seed.
Stabilized ground flax seed is what I bought before I switched to chia seeds. Google chia seeds. There is also an old thread on CoTH where a CoTHer in NY said her vet recommend chia seeds to help prevent colic in her horse. Also check Banks Mill Feed website for recommendation on how chia seeds help with several horse concerns. But then flax makes my horse get too fat, and I don’t want those omega6’s in them either.
Indians used to eat chia seeds to hydrate them so they could run in the heat of California and stay hydrated. Google is your friend… I was amazed years ago to find out, after the CoTH thread, that no one had previously mentioned chia seeds for horses and for humans.
Whole flax that is not ground by my horses’ teeth ends up in the manure pile where it blooms and seeds. BTDT. A waste of time and my horse nutritionist, whom I ignored when he said do not use whole flax, was right. I buy the getchia and lots of it at a time, at a discount, and it works great. But use whatever you want to use.
I am not sure that anything fed at a volume of one cup maximum a day would have much impact on a horse in terms of hydration.
When I was looking at preventives for constipation impaction colic last winter, I did feed psyllium husks as one addition to the mash as they made things a bit more jelly like. But actually the key thing was total amount of water maresy drank, not what was added to the water. Flax also has a jelly like quality.
I am sure if chia seeds gave modern marathon runners a competitive advantage they would be in common use among athletes.
As JB pointed out a few comments upthread, the ration of omega 3:6 in flax and chia is similar, a bit better in flax but not necessarily enough to justify the cost.
When I look up fat levels, chia is 31 grams of fat per 100 grams, and flax is 42 grams of fat per 100 grams. Chia is 486 calories per 100 grams, and flax is 534 calories per 100 grams.
So the difference in both fat content and calories is not that much in relation to the overall diet of the horse. The nutrition values of both chia and flax are in the general range of other oily seeds.
Flax is a timetested supplement for horses, it is available locally, and it is cheaper than chia seeds. I don’t think I see any evidence that would make me think chia seeds would do something very different or better than flax.
What about buying the whole flax seed and grinding daily? Or do you feed it to more than one horse?
That is perfectly doable with a coffee grinder. I did that for a long time then got lazy and started feeding more, but whole. I don’t get a lot of seeds in poop, not more than oats, and horse is still shiny.
Yep, that’s what I do, use a coffee grinder every day. So far the laziness factor hasn’t kicked in! 
I have definitely thought about it but my laziness factor is kicking in just thinking about it lol Figure if I can find a good deal on chia, I’d rather do that than the additional running around that grinding my own flax would mean for my day
When I feed whole flax, I never grind it. Yes if you want to maximize absorption then you should. Or you can feed a bit more to account for the relatively little that doesn’t get chewed. 40lb bags are cheap enough that even with feeding a bit more, it’s still cheaper than chia.
I’d always grind if there were teeth or chewing issues.
Hey while we are on the subject of flax a friend came home with a bag of flax feed that was roasted! Definite crispy toasty flavor. Nothing either of us had seen before. Anyone run across this?
Roasted flax = :yes: :yes:
I get my chia seeds from either Walmart (in the spices/baking area) or Costco.
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