I spent all this time slaving away in the kitchen and you won't eat?!

[afj6710]

he he. I made my chicks a yummy "porridge" this morning from oatmeal, wheat bran, cream of wheat, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, and milk. I was so proud of my concoction! But, my chickens just looked at it and looked at me like, "Are you kidding me? You want me to eat this?" So much for my good idea.

I hung their feeder up for a couple of hours so they would eat my food but they didn't seem very happy about it.

I can't have gluten anymore but have lots of grains like that in my pantry. Was hoping this might be a solution.

Do your chickens eat stuff like this?

 

[Oregon Blues]

That sounds messy.

They should eat the oatmeal and flax seed raw. Cream of Wheat is a bit small for adult birds, but you an soak it in a bit of cold water to barely dampen it and they might eat it.

If you are trying to get rid of the grains with gluten, you an bake them some muffins with the grains and any leftover flour you have on hand. They will eat that.

You shouldn't have any problem with the flax seeds and sunflower seeds, so save those for yourself.

 

[Amethyste]

My birds love hot oatmeal and cereals etc. I mix it tho with their feed or with chunky things like peas/chopped vegies/fruit etc. I had great success with making a porridge of feed, peas, chopped fruit, sunflower seeds, and just enough warm milk/buttermilk to moisten it, then I add yogurt etc. I don't leave it out for more than a few hours tho, but in the winter the bowl is licked clean within 30 mins.

Mine adore cream of wheat and yogurt, but I MUST mix it with feed so they can actually eat it without flinging it all over the place. And, I don't make a lot....they can be afraid of new things/food and many times won't touch it if it looks different.

That being said tho...they are still terrified of pumpkins. Apparently the pumpkins are out to eat them!!!



EDIT: The muffin etc idea is a great one!! I have done that too and had great results

 

[Upcycled]

***GAG***

Would you eat that goop? LOL! (I mean, if you could, Celiac notwithstanding.)

But seriously, remember---chickens don't "swallow"in the truest sense, so **goopy** isn't a real popular texture in the Henhouse Cafe---unless its mixed as suggested above---with some texture they can "bite" on.

But the muffin idea, or just the oaty little seeds and tidbits left RAW, and perhaps mixed in with some scratch or pellets........that sounds YUM-O!

You sound like a good chicken mom trying her best.

But if all else fails, give it to Mikey....he'll eat anything.

 

[afj6710]

Quote:
I would!

I was looking at it thinking how yummy it would be with some raisins and honey!

I've been trying to find ways to heavily supplement their feed and I've read lots of places that people feed their chickens oatmeal . . . so, the next step in my brain was to make a super-powered oatmeal!

The flax and sunflower seeds were just for nutrition. That was a really good point about the textures of the food - I didn't think about it needing to be lumpy so they could "chew" it. It was kind of funny watching them try to eat it and then rubbing their beaks all over the ground.

Quote:
oh, so it's alot like having a 2 year old.

 

[Tool]

Quote:
HAHAHAHA

 

[gale65]

Quote:

Actually though, it goes like this:

"What's this"

"Some new cereal"

"Did you try it"

"I'm not gonna try it. You try it".

"I'm not gonna try it"

"Hey! Let's get Mikey!"

"He won't eat it. He hates everything"

"He likes it! Hey Mikey!"

or something like that.

 

[saddina]

Its totally like having a 2 year old. Next time you get creative, take the "batter" and put it in the oven on low for chicken granolia cookies.

Now mine personally love cooked grains, left over from homebrewing (comes out very much like hot chunky oatmeal).