Is feeding oatmeal to chickens ok???

[StaatsFarms]

we have a couple great big canisters of oatmeal and wondered if it was ok to give to my birds??? should I give it raw or cook it first???

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Cook it and they will love you forever! They love it as a warm treat!

 

[dovecanyon]

I give it both cooked and raw, they love it either way.

 

[Mountain Sunshine]

Quote:
On really cold morning I cook it and mash a couple of bananas up in it. they love it. The other morning I was out of fruit and had some chicken broth left in the fridge and some left over cooked rice, so I added the broth and rice to the oatmeal and took it to them and they feasted on it! It warmed their tummies up for the day!

 

[Kacey's Krazee's]

That is a good question! Ihave been feeding my girls oatmeat daily, for about 2 wks now. I have been putting yogurt, and some honey in to it as well.
If I have any leftover scraps they are also going into it. I have also added fruit too. I feel better that they are having a warm breakfast, due to the cold
that has been around here of late. I have been worried that I was upsetting the protein percentages, as the girls still haven't laid any eggs. I think a few are
getting ready, due to the red in the face, but I really didn't expect any until the spring. They are 19 wks old, but I told myself not to expect any until Feb, so
I wouldn't get all worked up over the lack of eggs..... now if I could only get my DH to think the same......

 

[teach1rusl]

Oh yeahhhh...mine love the warm oatmeal w/scraps mixed in. Yesterday, took mine some w/left over ham pieces, honey nut cheerios and corn mixed in. It looked

to me. But based on the way they pounced on it, they thought it was delish...lol!

 

[WisconsinGardenChick]

You know, I read this all the time - that they like oatmeal, that many people give cooked grains to warm them in winter. Mine are indifferent to it! I've tried it on several occasions. Most recently, I made them apples and oatmeal - they mostly picked out the apples. One will not touch the stuff at all. She just keeps begging until I bring out cracked corn or a tomato.

They also love their greens. I gave them dandelions and whatever extra herbs I had, like parsley, before the snowy season. Now I grow oat grass in large containers in a window, clip it and take it out to them. They go crazy for that.

Your thought crossed my mind, though, that vegetables and fruits with high water content might be good for them in the cold. With that in mind, I gave them a few grapes yesterday. They liked them, but not any more than some other treats.

Edited to add: They also go nuts over corn on the cob.

 

[MaggieRae]

Sure! It's a great hot treat for them on cold mornings. My chickens always get the left overs from last night's dinner and that morning's breakfast heated up or chilled depending on the weather. They seem to like it!

 

[Kittymomma]

Mine like it on really cold mornings too. We had lows in the single digits (crazy cold for us, you folks in the mid-west and NE can stop laughing now.

) and I'd make oatmeal stew--cooked oats and whatever I had on hand and felt like throwing in it.

Like anything else, don't overdue it and make it a major part of their diet. It's a great cold morning treat though. It took mine a little while to get used to it, chickens aren't really big on change. I sprinkled a little scratch on top of it and they got the idea pretty fast after that.

 

[WisconsinGardenChick]

Quote:
Ah, so that's the way to do it!