? about chickens & oats

[chickyen]

@chickyen

Here is a very simple recipe -
Take a plastic container with a tight fitting lid and add the amount of whole or clipped oats (not rolled or quaker type oats) that you will be using for one days feeding in it.
Add enough water to cover the oats about 2 inches and cover.
The next day a good bit of that water should be soaked up and you will have to add more water to cover the oats again.
Keep doing this until the oats don't soak up anymore water.
When the oats stop soaking up water it is done and is ready for feeding.

*Note - You can substitute some or all the water with apple juice. (the good stuff thats unfiltered and looks like they ground the tree up with the apples)

Thanks!

 

[Chris09]

Your Welcome.

 

[centrarchid]

It's not that it is high in fiber it is because it is high in indigestible fiber. 
Like the hulls of oats the shells of sunflower seed are very hard to digest and can stay in the digestive system for a week or better. (one of the reasons gamefowl raisers feed only soaked oats)
Feeding to much of either (or any other hard to digest indigestible fiber) could cause digestive problems and can cause crop bounds.

That is very much what definition of fiber is. The component which passes through without being digested owing to chemistry of its makeup. What is fiber for one critter may be available nutrients for another.

Retention time of fiber processed by ceca is very much longer and typical with some components of but not all being relatively long. The week part is an exaggeration when taken in the context of the majority of what is consumed.

With respect to soaking impacting digestibilities of fiber in oats, yes and no. The short-chain soluble fibers yes, but long-chain / web forming fibers of cells walls that dominate the hulls you can see no. Soaking promotes availability of many nutrients including proteins, vitamins and some sugars of nutrients but has little or no impact on the cellusosic components of fiber.

The causing of crop issues I have not seen. Other factors feed into that complex problem which is very much an artifact of rapid diet changes.

 

[Chris09]

There are two types of of fiber, digestible and indigestible.
Digestible fiber dissolves and gets broke down in the digestive tract, where it is fermented. As it absorbs water it becomes gelatinous.
Indigestible fiber does not dissolve and as it goes through the digestive tract it does not change its form.

If you think the week is a exaggeration here is a test for you, feed a chicken whole dry oats for a month (along with there regular feed) then stop feeding a week before butchering it. 9 times out of 10 you will still find oats/hulls in the digestive system.

 

[ChicKat]

Thanks so much for all the information!

 

[centrarchid]

There are two types of of fiber, digestible and indigestible. 
Digestible fiber [COLOR=111111]dissolves and gets broke down in the digestive tract, where it is fermented. As it absorbs water it becomes gelatinous.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=111111]​Indigestible fiber [/COLOR][COLOR=111111]does not dissolve and as it goes through the digestive tract it does not change its form.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=111111]If you think the week is a exaggeration here is a test for you, feed a chicken whole dry oats for a month (along with there regular feed) then stop feeding a week before butchering it. 9 times out of 10 you will still find oats/hulls in the digestive system. [/COLOR]

Some particulate fiber will be found, based on experience and proper training to look for such. The issue is significance and health impacts. Battlecock in the pit would be burdened by additional weight. For bird on an otherwise well balanced diet with no need for such extreme physical activity that will not be a major. If clear GIT of concern, then for last month withold course particulate fibers or feed a softer fiber type to promote flushing the course stuff out.

 

[ChicKat]

So here is another question about oats... In a thread I was reading - someone had written that after sprouted 4-days oats move from the category of grain into the category of green in your chicken's diet. I cannot refind that post, drat.

so in 4-days after they have sprouted, they are enough removed from the seed stage that they could substitute for grass? Anyone have a handle on that one? Thanks.

 

[centrarchid]

So here is another question about oats...  In a thread I was reading - someone had written that after sprouted 4-days oats move from the category of grain into the category of green in your chicken's diet.  I cannot refind that post, drat.  

so in 4-days after they have sprouted, they are enough removed from the seed stage that they could substitute for grass?  Anyone have a handle on that one? Thanks.

They will be changed well in that direction, especially if photosynthesis gets underway. The contents of the original seed have been essentially unpacked (i.e transformed from provitamins to vitamins) making them more available as nutrients. Additionally more energy and even protein can be contained as a function of the photosynthesis. I am not sure with oats but with some seeds you may also see a deactivation of anti-nutritional factors as they interact with the chickens digestive physiology.


If it is a problem, then you can consider the importance of the relatively indigestible hulls that are still likely to be consumed.

 

[ChicKat]

They will be changed well in that direction, especially if photosynthesis gets underway. The contents of the original seed have been essentially unpacked (i.e transformed from provitamins to vitamins) making them more available as nutrients. Additionally more energy and even protein can be contained as a function of the photosynthesis. I am not sure with oats but with some seeds you may also see a deactivation of anti-nutritional factors as they interact with the chickens digestive physiology.


If it is a problem, then you can consider the importance of the relatively indigestible hulls that are still likely to be consumed.

Thanks centrachid,

Now to get some oats...:O)

 

[Chris09]

Oats like most grass is a plant as soon as it has roots and leaves.
Now plants that sprout with cotyledons are not a plant until they have there true leaves and are no longer relying on the cotyledons to make photosynthesis. Also photosynthesis starts as soon as leaves receives sunlight.