Feeding rice to my chickens

[chickenjohn]

Barnyard Dog so you think that I can supplement my chickens diet with rice and it would be ok. It is so much cheaper than chicken feed. My chickens free range so I am sure they get some greens and bugs there. What percentage of their diet do you think could consist of cooked rice?

 

[silkiechicken]

White rice is pretty lack luster. My mom back in china fed chickens white rice and the rice bran from the rice from the fields. But granted. Chickens there aren't lavish like ours here and were usually eaten within a few years anyways.

 

[chickenjohn]

well the general consensis seems to be to stick to the layer pellet. Guess if I needed to they could just eat rice. But I have heavy breed chickens not jungle fowl. I will probably give them a little more rice than I have and see how they do. If the egg production goes down or I have thin shells I guess I will go back to all layer. I will let you know how the experiment goes.

 

[silkiechicken]

Good luck, don't forget to make sure you have free choice oyster shells. That way the eggs you get won't be soft shelled.

 

[chickenjohn]

silkie chicken I have free choice oyster shells out in a container so that is the reason why I hope the increase in rice feeding will not affect the egg shell. We will see though and maybe in a couple of weeks I can post results.

 

[Chickee's Mom]

You could check out the web site www.lionsgrip.com/chickens.html
lots of interesting stuff on there.
I have been giving my chickens sea weed, it is supposed to be like all the minerals they would need.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Quote:
That is great that it is so much cheaper than chicken feed, I pay around $7.00 for 25#'s brown rice more. Rice hulls run around $7.00 for 50#s. Our chickens are larger breeds but they don't have alot of fat content more on the lean side except our Barred Rocks. We haven't ever fed our chickens a diet of commerical feed, always a high percentage of rice. But to supplement will be just fine add some DE, vegetables, fish, and fruit to their diet. Ours eat alot of grass since they free range and after a rain lots of worms from our creek bed. I don't know where you are from but when it gets cold put some rice in a rice cooker let it cool a little so that it is still warm and feed it to them they will appreciate it. In China usually meat chickens are consumed between 4-6 months. Everywhere you go there are chickens running freely it makes you wonder how people keep track of them they are mostly layers. On this diet my chickens have never had a health problem, very few soft shell eggs if so early on before their reproductive system had matured, I keep oyster shell available, no impacted crops, no deaths, or illnesses.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

If you have ever had experience any waterfowl or pheasant hunting you will see that most of these birds crops are full of rice. It is one of the main staples of migratory waterfowl, they will scoop in on a rice field in a heart beat. They need it for stamina and energy.

 

[chickenjohn]

seems I need to get some DE if nothing else. I guess to help keep their system clean. I can get 100 pounds of white rice around here for about 12 dollars (rice comes in a burlap bag that makes the rice also taste like burlap yummmm)!! A hundred pounds makes a lot of cooked rice. I am located in Georgia so our winters tend to not be that cold. I do not really care to fatten up my chickens as long as they give me some eggs to eat and sell.

 

[chickenjohn]

Thanks barnyard dog you have been a big help. I was hoping someone would chime in that uses rice as a part of their main diet that they feed their chickens.