Feeding enriched uncooked rice with scratch

[Penske]

Has anyone ever done this? I suppose it's a good protein source.

 

[LoneCowboy]

Doesn't uncooked rice expand in their stomachs? I think that's why they stopped throwing rice at weddings, because the birds were getting it and it was causing problems. But I don't really know.

 

[buckbeak]

Cook the rice first. Even feed it warm if it is cold out where you are. Oatmeal with scratch in it is a great treat too. You can also add black oil sunflower seeds.

 

[kizza07]

There is a farmer down my road that feeds his chooks raw uncooked rice and NOTHING else besides scraps and they are doing fine!

 

[kstaven]

Your farmer friend has been lucky then. Expanding rice and crop impactions are common from using and uncooked or unsoaked product like rice.

 

[fivebigreds]

I always thought it was probably minute rice that hurt the birds. I don't see how regular rice would differ from any other grain. I do soak rice before i feed it just in case.

 

[kstaven]

As rice soaks up water it expands greatly, unlike grain. Too much rice in the crop and it will expand and then block everything. AKA One dead chicken.

 

[Churkenduse]

I agree, anything that has a possibility of expanding after water is added will eventually hurt your babies and you do not want that.

Lonecowboy is absoluteley correct no more rice at weddings because it was killing the birds.

 

[Windy Ridge]

Rice "expanding" once ingested by birds is a myth. Check snopes:

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/birdrice.asp

On the other hand, I don't know if feeding your chickens just rice and scraps will mean they get all the nutrition they need. Best to go for a balanced diet, I think.

 

[kstaven]

I can direct you to many avian specialists and many professional publications that will argue the snopes opinion.

To start with email Branson Ritchie at georgia tech. He is one of the top avian researchers in your country.