Brown rice? to cook or not to cook??

[chickenlady08]

I am still skittish about giving rice to wild birds or even my chickens. I know I am probably worrying about nothing but I have enough trouble keeping my girls backs safe from the roosters. I think that I would cook it first. Come to think of it I don't beleive that I have ever given my chickens rice cooked or uncooked. I also used bird seed for my wedding and felt better about keeping the birds safe from something else we do to the environment.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Millet is a very common ingredient in bird seed and if cooked swells rather a lot. More so than any other grain I've ever cooked but for popped corn.

But as a chicken's stomach isn't hot enough to cook anything it's irrelevant.

There is a very simple test for all of this.

Get a sample of whatever grain you have on hand. Pour a measured amount, say a quarter cup, into a measure cup then pour in about a cup of water. Set it off somewhere then come back and look at it about the same time the next day.

ALL grains will swell somewhat as they absorb water, but NONE of them will swell so much as to injure an animal accustomed to eating grains.

Such as a chicken.

 

[Katy]

Any grain soaked in moisture swells up so if a person is scared to feed rice they should be scared to feed any whole grains.

 

[dianneS]

A.T. Hagan :

Millet is a very common ingredient in bird seed and if cooked swells rather a lot. More so than any other grain I've ever cooked but for popped corn.

But as a chicken's stomach isn't hot enough to cook anything it's irrelevant.

ALL grains will swell somewhat as they absorb water, but NONE of them will swell so much as to injure an animal accustomed to eating grains.

Such as a chicken.

Very true. Millet really does swell a lot and is the primary ingredient in quite a few bird seeds. I made a veggie loaf the other night with millet and a bunch of other grains. They all swelled quite a bit in my vegetable steamer, but I don't think my chickens get as hot as a steamer! They also didn't start popping from the popcorn I fed them either!

 

[Chris09]

Raw rice will NOT harm them.
I feed a scratch grain that has -
Wheat, Milo, Maple Peas, Trapper Peas, Austrian Peas, Buck Wheat, Corn, Brown Rice, White Millet, Oats Groats, Malt Barley, Safflower Seed, Linseed (Flax) and Hemp Seed.


Chris

 

[FlagChick]

I think in general, cooking grains helps with absorption of nutrients. It softens them so that they don't just pass through the body. It also helps with hydration. Personally, I think they taste much better cooked, and have noticed my own chickens to prefer them that way too.

 

[terri9630]

The rice doesn't stay in the birds crop/stomach long enough to absorb enough moisture to swell much. It starts getting ground/broken down as soon as it hits the crop. You take feed from birds the night before butchering so the crop isn't full so it can't take that long for the food to "pass on through".

 

[BethieofVA]

Mine INHALE our leftover cooked brown rice!! Love it!!!

 

[nelgkel]

after reading your posts I gave my chicks brown rice, flaxseed, wheat germ and steel cut oats
yesterday they had yogurt, apples, frozen cherries and sweet potato fries..

they have grit available and are 3 1/2 weeks old...

 

[dianneS]

Quote:
Mmmm... That all sounds really good! Especially the sweet potato fries!

Did you cook the rice or not? Mine weren't harmed by the uncooked rice, but they don't really care for it. They gobble up cooked rice however.

Very nice coop you have!