Is feeding oatmeal to chickens ok???

[Ann With A Plan]

I went through all the pages of this thread and didn't find one person saying oatmeal is bad for chickens. I gave mine some this evening and they devoured it. I thought I'd give them some more often, but decided to look online to see what others had to say and found this:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/the-shocking-effect-of-oatmeal/
Could I please get everyone's thoughts on this?
Thanks,

 

[nao57]

I'm pretty sure that oatmeal is like crack cocaine to poultry.

 

[Ann With A Plan]

Thanks. After seeing what I did on that site I got concerned.

I'm pretty sure that oatmeal is like crack cocaine to poultry.

 

[NatJ]

...found this:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/the-shocking-effect-of-oatmeal/
Could I please get everyone's thoughts on this?

I posted my thoughts (at length) in another thread. Here's a link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...meal-to-chickens.1339256/page-4#post-21942543

Short answer, I have a very low opinion of that article (poor quality research/expert, footnotes that are no good.)

I think that oatmeal is not particularly bad for chickens, but I also think it is far more sensible to just serve the usual chicken feed, wetted with warm water (in cold weather) or cold water (in warm weather.) The chickens like it just as much, it's easier and usually cheaper, and it is properly balanced nutritionally.

 

[Sonya9]

I went through all the pages of this thread and didn't find one person saying oatmeal is bad for chickens. I gave mine some this evening and they devoured it. I thought I'd give them some more often, but decided to look online to see what others had to say and found this:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/the-shocking-effect-of-oatmeal/
Could I please get everyone's thoughts on this?
Thanks,

There is also this from the University of Kentucky Agricultural Department:

"Researchers have reported that up to 40% of naked oats could be included in broiler diets with no adverse effect on growth, feed efficiency, shrinkage, dressing percentage or bone strength.

At 50% inclusion in broiler diets, naked oats have been shown to have a negative effect on some sensory quality parameters (tenderness, juiciness and to some extent stringiness and rubberiness). This was not found at the 25% inclusion level. Some research reports indicate that up to 66% of naked oats can be included in layer diets with no adverse effects on egg yolk, feed intake, egg weight, or egg production. "

https://afs.ca.uky.edu/poultry/using-oats-poultry-diets

 

[Ann With A Plan]

Wow, thanks!

I posted my thoughts (at length) in another thread. Here's a link:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...meal-to-chickens.1339256/page-4#post-21942543

Short answer, I have a very low opinion of that article (poor quality research/expert, footnotes that are no good.)

I think that oatmeal is not particularly bad for chickens, but I also think it is far more sensible to just serve the usual chicken feed, wetted with warm water (in cold weather) or cold water (in warm weather.) The chickens like it just as much, it's easier and usually cheaper, and it is properly balanced nutritionally.

 

[lovesfarms]

I've fed it both ways. The chicks I have right now will not eat it cooked. If they eat wet food like that, they come and wipe their beaks off on me. They also won't eat raisins and my other ones always loved raisins.

 

[Ann With A Plan]

Thanks. I went to the other thread and posted there, too. Interestingly, I brought some worms out there to them and they didn't seem interested! So I figured they were full. So my cross beak (Chubby Cheeks) got them.

I've fed it both ways. The chicks I have right now will not eat it cooked. If they eat wet food like that, they come and wipe their beaks off on me. They also won't eat raisins and my other ones always loved raisins.

 

[Sonya9]

I've fed it both ways. The chicks I have right now will not eat it cooked. If they eat wet food like that, they come and wipe their beaks off on me. They also won't eat raisins and my other ones always loved raisins.

Regular breakfast oatmeal aka rolled oats is actually precooked -- they steam and roll the oats. People can eat it uncooked with milk and it is like the Swiss cereal Muesli.

Raw oats such as steel cut or crimped oats take a LONG time to cook, not the 1-5 minutes of boiling to make regular oatmeal. And yeah my chicks get a small dish of uncooked oatmeal with a little water on top as their bedtime treat.

 

[BDutch]

I went through all the pages of this thread and didn't find one person saying oatmeal is bad for chickens. I gave mine some this evening and they devoured it. I thought I'd give them some more often, but decided to look online to see what others had to say and found this:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/the-shocking-effect-of-oatmeal/
Could I please get everyone's thoughts on this?
Thanks,

Its a commercial article and not all true. If you add water to feed the chickens will drink less water. So comparing wet food with dry food like that doesn’t apply. If you dont count the water the purina feed is just a little higher in proteïne.

If the chickens are laying eggs they do have a point though. Giving too much feed that isn’t balanced, especially if the chickens cant free range should be avoided. About 25% other /unbalanced feed gives no problems if you're not a farmer who has to go for the max profit.

Many hens in hobby settings and with homesteaders lay less eggs as the factory-hybrids , especially in winter. So they don’t need so much calcium and protein in the feed. I like to give whole flock in winter with calcium at the side. If you have non-laying hens and roosters the laying feed is not the best to give. And even can cause kidney problems after some time.

IMO giving oatmeal as an extra is not balanced but not bad ether. If you give layer feed and have hens that have stopped laying its even better to give oatmeal for breakfast. Or to give some corn or mixed grains as a treat.