? about chickens & oats

[jomercer]

I have a bag of race horse oats--hulls, pointy ends, and all--and I give them to the girls as a something-to-do treat in the morning. 4 hens get about a cup.

The leftover grains that they scratch into the ground outside their pen eventually sprout. Then they really love grazing the oatgrass! Oats will sprout until it gets really cold, so then I will probably sprout some for them over the winter.

 

[wildgeesego]

I tried feeding my chickens race- horse oats once but I found them harder to catch after that. Now I feed rolled oats in a mix with whole wheat and cracked corn free choice scratch grain. It is two parts wheat, two parts corn and one part oat. In the winter the birds really go for this. Given free choice with a higher protien content poultry feed can help reduce the feed costs. I buy my grain directly from a local farmer by 50 # sacks and mix it myself into cans. When I used whole oat in this mix alot of it was wasted, so I switched to rolled oats. They are not as rolled as Quaker just enough to break the grain open.

 

[dragonlair]

I have horses and goats, so I have oats. My chickens refuse to eat them. They love the cracked corn, BOSS, wild bird seed and grass seeds that are growing around the yard, but oats? No way!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:

 

[mitchell3006]

Sour the oats in water with ACV, brown sugar, and Red Cell added. When they smell ready for the still and double in size (1 week+) they are ready to feed. Use them as no more than 1/3 total feed.

Mark

 

[cottagechick]

Quote:
I am unfamiliar with alot of this stuff..so I am having to look it all up....can you give me an idea of proportions for your recipe...ie 1 part this two parts that...I am curious about the brown sugar...what is the function of that. And is this a treat or their diet? How much to you give them?

 

[Cebarmlds]

Quote:
Is the red cell liquid or pellets, and how much do you give?

 

[Arielle]

Had left over Red Cell for a horse, now I can use it up! My girls LOVE corn and BOSS. To get them to eat the oat (race horse oats) I feed that first, when they are the most hungry. They gobble it up! Corn and wild bird food seed they get later.

Thanks for bringing this thread back to life!

 

[SteveBaz]

My girls walk right by oats but will not leave the bowl until its empty if I cook it for them. They are no-ones fools. Who would eat raw if cooked was available LOL

STeve

 

[cottagechick]

ok...so I saw this on CL...
"Field run gray oats in 80lb bags. No minimum order, $280 a ton."


It says no minimum...so an 80lb bag would be about $22...is this good...and someone was elaborating on the different types of oats and which was better...can someone explain to me what field run gray oats are...????