? about chickens & oats

Sort of a dumb question, I guess, but here goes-

I want to feed my chickens oats as a treat this summer, because I've read that oats won't jack up their body temp. So, do I go to the feed store for whole, raw oats? Or can I feed something like Quaker Old-Fashioned Oats (the kind you cook before serving). I'm guessing instant oatmeal isn't what I want? If the stuff is dry, pre-packaged oatmeal, would it expand & do them harm after they eat it?

Thanks for your advice!

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You can feed them feedstore oats or the grocery store kinds. It is OK to feed them the dry oats. It will not hurt them. I give mine dry oats about 2x per week. Remember it is more of a treat.

Imp

What you are looking for is rolled, or crimped, oats from your feed store. I'm sure they would do fine with Quaker oats but it's not really cost efficient to buy by the small box.

My chickens don't like em. So buy sparingly at first.

Wow, thanks for the quick replies!

I don't feed Oats as a treat, but as a food, course they think its a treat.

I mix up my own scratch 2 parts oats, 1 milo, 1 cracked corn and then add in some sunflower seeds and flax seeds. Oats is very good for egg laying, I have a winter slow down but have never been without eggs, not even during molt. I feed them scratch Morning and Evening, then they go eat their Layer food before bed time. I use race horse oats because its less dusty than the other oats, I tried the crimped but like the Race Horse Oats better. Personal preferance. If you have layers, give them oats. They may not eat them the first time, but they will if given again.

I give my chicks and ducklings Oatmeal (regular, instant or steel cut), with Milo, Millet, Amaranth, Buckwheat, Cracked Corn and Flax seed run through a coarse grind. They get the baby mix from 4 weeks till they start getting into the larger grains when they are in with the hens at about 12 weeks old. Though when they are older they don't get ground up unless I have more babies around. There are usually babies around most of the year. Come to think of it, they like the steel cut better than the oatmeal flakes, but will eat either.

With 20+ hens, plus ducks, plus chicks I go through 100 lb of oats, 50 lb each of Milo and Cracked Corn every 12 weeks or less. Their scratch is close to 50% of their food and they have 4 hours of yard time every day, and will have most of the day in the out in the yard with the hot weather coming.

Oh, in the winter, when I make Oatmeal, I just make extra for the hens and chicks if I have any at the time. Mixed with some scrambled egg and yogurt --a hens delight. Just drop the pie pans quickly and step back. If you don't they will fly up and knock them out of your hands. This has happened on occasion, when I am just to slow.

I wasn't sure about this either, I had a canister of the old fashioned rolled oats and added it to my starter crumbles right before i switched over to grower this year and didn't see any problems at all. Although I couldn't hardly stand to be around my birds after they went on manna pro Triple Duty, the feed has a strong malasses smell and make the manure have a really strong smell too.

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I do as you do. My flock eats a good percentage of my mix which contains oats, corn, and wheat. But, even after being on that mixture for 10 months, everyday when I filled feeders there would be nothing in them except a BUNCH of oats.

There was someone on here a year or two ago who said he bought feedstore whole oats for his chickens, but every morning he ate a bowl as his breakfast. He'd soak them overnight in cold water and cooked as usual. I wanted to try but 50lbs is a lot of trying.

Imp

Dry oats are good, But Oats soaked in water untill they sour is even better..The fermentaion process will add probiotics and the protein will increase to about 18%..No other feed or suppelment will put a sheen on feathers or help as much during the molt like the soured oats will..guaranteed