Feeding Oats?

[rodriguezpoultry]

I was wondering if anyone knew the specific pros and cons of feeding oats to chickens? That includes growing birds and birds in production/out of production.

Any help/advice is appreciated!

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

They'd be fine to mix with other grains, but couldnt be a complete diet by themselves

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Is there no specific advantages to feeding it? One old-timer told me that feeding oats to young stock would "put weight on them" and "keep weight" on older birds.

Is this not the case?

 

[CovenantCreek]

I don't know any pros or cons about oats, but I do know they're included in the feed and scratch that I've got.

 

[jab91864]

Last winter I bought a few bags of oats and added them to the feed for the flock. Oats are a carb so they would help with weight gain and helping the flock to keep warmer in the cold weather.

A lot of ppl cook up oatmeal to feed to their flock on a cold night.......

Julie

 

[Katy]

Mine like them and I throw it out as scratch for them.

 

[Jena]

I don't know about the nutritional values, but I give my girls porridge every morning while it is so cold here and they love it, but I don't give in isolation,
I give them their laying pellets too.

Porridge and treats are in addition. I sometimes add raisins, and yogurt, and they also have greens every day.

But I am sure they do no harm as a supplement.

Makesme feel good anyway that I am giving them comfort food. lol.

Jena.

 

[rosegal]

I give mine soaked rolled oats every day. They love it in a frantic way. But, I also give them a huge variety of other things. Plus they have pellets available all day too and can fun around looking for insects if they want. I wouldn't just feed them oats, but have everything they need available so they can pick what they need. I have a friend that just feeds her chickens the leftover rice from dinner.....they do just fine too. Although I wouldn't do that.

 

[cmom]

I give my birds oats as part of their treats every day. They love them. The horses too.

 

[WiseChicks]

When it gets cold here (WI) I make up a big batch of oatmeal and stir in mashed bananas. You haven't seen CRAZY until you've seen my 40+ chickens attack the bowls of banana-oatmeal. Pirrahnas are neat eaters in comparison! The only thing crazier is when we are canning tomatoes and I bring out the 10 gallons of tomato cores in the summer. 2 minutes and it looks like the Wisconsin Chicken Chainsaw Massacres!! Everyone is dripping red and running around like crazy! The white silkies look the worst!