Brown rice? to cook or not to cook??

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dianneS

dianneS

Songster
Mar 16, 2009
843
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South Central PA
Can I feed my chickens uncooked white or brown rice? I have a bunch of dry goods in my cupboard that got some bugs in it and I have brown and white rice, some uncooked pasta and other grains. Can I give this to my chickens, or do I have to cook the rice first? I also have some organic popcorn, I assume that will be okay, since its just whole corn.
 
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The rice does not need to be cooked. Mine won't eat uncooked pasta so that would at least need to be soaked to soften first.

Popcorn is fine as well, but make sure they have access to grit.
 
Go with the brown rice, it's much more nutritous.
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Quote:
Uncooked white rice, when in the birds stomach, expands as it is re-hydrated, enlarging the birds stomachs drastically. This sometimes cases the birds to blow up mid-flight!



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Uncooked white rice is fine for wild birds and chickens.
 
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Quote:
Uncooked white rice, when in the birds stomach, expands as it is re-hydrated, enlarging the birds stomachs drastically. This sometimes cases the birds to blow up mid-flight!



lau.gif
yippiechickie.gif
lau.gif



Uncooked white rice is fine for wild birds and chickens.

I always heard that too, and lots of weddings started throwing birdseed. I'm sure its not true about the birds blowing up! I wonder if they started throwing birdseed because the birds clean up the mess and they don't have to sweep up the rice after the ceremony? Perhaps that is where the birdseed trend began.

Anyway, I threw my buggy old rice out for the chickens, and they want nothing to do with it anyway! They really didn't eat the popcorn either! They are so particular, and so spoiled.
 
This is absolutely true! Rice swells a lot when ingested and it is possible for them to eat so much that when it swells they can rupture. Cook it some first to be safe.
 
A.T. Hagan :

I have fed raw rice to my birds many times over the years. They digest it just like any other grain.

.....Alan.

I can't imagine that rice could swell that much. I've soaked it before, and it doesn't swell until you boil it. The rice I threw out for my chickens yesterday got rained on, and it didn't swell either? They still have no interest in it anyway, so I guess it really isn't an issue. I just always thought that those stories of exploding birds were old wives tales.

Here's a link to a site that explains that birds eating uncooked rice is an urban myth. http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/backyard_birds/myths/myths.aspx​
 
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Ok I just did a thorough search on this topic and even though I had an Enviromental Studies professor say this was true (only for dried rice, not fresh), the consensus is (from several ornithological groups and other scientific studies) the folks here are right! This is an urban legend. I learned something new today.
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