do chickens have to eat ROLLED oats or can they eat whole?

[Davaroo]

You can avoid all the tilling and soil work if you just sprout the oats and feed directly. You get a lot of mileage from a quantity of oats and feed an excellent green feed in the process.

 

[Swamp Roo]

Elderoo can you walk us through your sprouting process? Thanks

 

[BaronRenfrew]

Any whole grain is difficult for birds to digest. This means that they will only get 50 to 70% of the nutrients from the grains before its flushed out. This is true even with grit (small rocks) fed to birds. This is why milled, rolled, or cut grains are prefferred for birds.

Straight grain also does not contain enough protein to push eggs out of chickens. If you want to feed grain then you can buy a feed supplement from your feed store.

Grain is shipped by the truckload from farmers. Sometimes they don't empty the farmers bin if there is not enough left to fill a truck. I know one guy that received all the corn he wanted free as he had to shovel it from the ground where it spilled when filling a truck.

If you talk to grain farmers you may get some great deals like this. Grain from a farmer may not be "cleaned" so it may contain weed seeds, hulls, and insects. I remember the last time we grew grains it was full of grasshoppers, all stuff that doesn't matter for chicken feed.

Grain used for animal feed is often a lower grade than used for human use. It may be old, mishapen, lower in protein, or may contain some fungus or something.

Check this past entry.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=37984

Sprouting grain is easy. I googled and found this.

http://www.godsdirectcontact.com/vegetarian/sprout.html

 

[Davaroo]

I cant add much to the link provided for sprouts. Thanks Baron. Here're my thoughts:

You can sprout in anything and I've done it in all sorts of containers for my own consumption. Don't use metal containers for sprouting, though. Plastic or glass will be fine.

Be mindful to adjust the quantities depending on the number of birds and, of course, the size of your sprouting containers.

Dont sprout more than the birds can eat in a day or two. Two day old sprouts are about as far as you want to go. After that, the sprout gets "leggy" and will begin feeding on it's own store of food energy - which defeats the whole point of sprouting for chickens. Freshness is key.

Ideally, you'll want to keep a rotating stock of sprouts going, to ensure a constant supply - so put in a double supply of sprouting containers, FIRST!

I would go to the thrift store or Dollar Store and find some cheap 2-3 gallon plastic containers with lids. That's really all it takes.

Give it a test run and work with it for a week or so and you should have it down pat.

 

[Swamp Roo]

Thanks guys! Just to be sure I understand the purpose of sprouting, the idea is that by sprouting the chickens get food that is easier to extract nutrients from. Also there are more vitamins in sprouts than just plain whole grains. Am I getting it? Besides, I'll bet they like to eat sprouts more. I know I would rather eat sprouts rather than seeds (most of the time). I'll have to keep my eyes open for all sorts of seed that is on sale/special, I find grass/rye seed real cheap sometimes.

 

[momdrinkstea]

So just cover with water and await?
That sounds easy! Keep the sprouting container covered, right?
I do the same thing to clabber raw milk.
Why is it all the easy ways have been lost?!
Thanks for the info!