Chicken Treats -feeding oatmeal to chickens

[Chickassan]

Lol, when I told my mom margarine was originally a failed turkey fattening product that ended up killing them I thought she was going to faint lol!

There was a big push when I was growing up to say that margarine was healthier than butter. We all know better now. Only believe half of what you read, and only believe THAT after you've done your own research.

The oatmeal thing, as long as it is just a treat every now and then I think it is perfectly fine.
My flock gets a few bites and there is noooo malnutition, the opposite of it in fact.

 

[Double Yolked]

Lol, when I told my mom margarine was originally a failed turkey fattening product that ended up killing them I thought she was going to faint lol!

The oatmeal thing, as long as it is just a treat every now and then I think it is perfectly fine.
My flock gets a few bites and there is noooo malnutition, the opposite of it in fact.

My mom gave me this recipe and I use it when it's freezing out. I give my girls cooked whole oats (not rolled) on occasion when it's really cold outside. I'll throw a couple cups of oats in my big steel kettle and cooked it for 15 minutes. Then I toss in some frozen whole corn kernels, or if I'm out of that, a little cornmeal, whatever other leftover veggie or fruit scraps from the kitchen they might be allowed and sometimes toss a bit of crumbled cheese or scrambled egg if I have a broken one or two on top. Put it all in a big pan cool it down just enough that it won't burn them but is still warm... and jump out of the way after I set it down. The sound of beaks beating the bottom of the metal pan, excavating for more is fair to deafening!

 

[Chickassan]

Sounds like how my gran fed her chickens in the winter and pretty much the same reaction too!
Blows my mind how much chickens like cheese in pretty much anything I do too though.

My mom gave me this recipe and I use it when it's freezing out. I give my girls cooked whole oats (not rolled) on occasion when it's really cold outside. I'll throw a couple cups of oats in my big steel kettle and cooked it for 15 minutes. Then I toss in some frozen whole corn kernels, or if I'm out of that, a little cornmeal, whatever other leftover veggie or fruit scraps from the kitchen they might be allowed and sometimes toss a bit of crumbled cheese or scrambled egg if I have a broken one or two on top. Put it all in a big pan cool it down just enough that it won't burn them but is still warm... and jump out of the way after I set it down. The sound of beaks beating the bottom of the metal pan, excavating for more is fair to deafening!

 

[akddr]

For those looking for greens in the winter months when there are no natural greens available, I suggest you can check with your local grocery stores or food banks as they may discard dated lettuce, other salad greens, arugula, kale, etc.

If your chickens don’t like those choices you can always compost the leftovers. I don’t know why but my chickens will not eat spinach or red lettuce.

 

[Acre4Me]

margarine was originally a failed turkey fattening product that ended up killing them

where did you see that info? Nothing like the margarine history I’m familiar with. Fattening turkeys was never the goal of margarine development. Not to say that somebody didn’t feed it to their turkeys to try to fatten them up, but that wasn’t the reason margarine was developed.

 

[Ann With A Plan]

Thanks. What about the pictures of the chickens intestines?

 

[NatJ]

Thanks. What about the pictures of the chickens intestines?

One picture is a "dramatization of" what oats supposedly do inside a chicken's guts-- I don't pay much attention to dramatizations.

The intestines that have "necrotic enteritis" just means that chicken had a problem.

The chicken chick does properly explain in a footnote on that page that necrotic enteritis is caused by a bacteria that normally lives inside of chickens, and only causes problems under certain circumstances.

But what things actually cause that problem in chickens? An online veterinary manual says, "High dietary levels of animal byproducts (eg, fishmeal), wheat, barley, oats, or rye predispose birds to the disease. Anything that promotes excessive bacterial growth and toxin production or slows feed passage rate in the small intestine could promote the occurrence of necrotic enteritis."

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/poultry/necrotic-enteritis/overview-of-necrotic-enteritis-in-poultry

So yes, the chicken that used to own those intestines did have a problem. But there is no way to tell if oats were involved at all for that chicken, and there are lots of other food-products that could have been involved.

 

[Ann With A Plan]

Ohh ok, I didn't realize it was a dramatization. I feel better now. Thanks.

One picture is a "dramatization of" what oats supposedly do inside a chicken's guts-- I don't pay much attention to dramatizations.

The intestines that have "necrotic enteritis" just means that chicken had a problem.

 

[NatJ]

Ohh ok, I didn't realize it was a dramatization. I feel better now. Thanks.

The intestines are real intestines, but may not have anything to do with oats. The gooey stuff in the photo just above them is the dramatization.