My chickens didn't much appreciate the Quaker guy

[barbieszoo]

I eat a large bowl of raw oatmeal every morning and it doesn't swell up in me. Would it in a chicken? I guess I don't know for sure. I know they say not to feed uncooked rice though.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Mine love it. I had a bunch of the quick 1 minute oats (hubby bought it and I won't eat it

I like the old fashioned) so I saved it to give to the chickens. I will cook it, mix in some extra milk or half and half if I have some that's going to expire, and if I have overripe banana's I'll throw that in there too. They go crazy for it. They love cherios and mac and cheese too.

 

[AccentOnHakes]

Raw rice, too, is fine. It's just a myth that it'll swell up and kill them.

 

[Dora'smom]

The rice thing is a myth. I just don't think that churches like cleaning it up, while the birds will eat seed that is thrown. (I'm dating myself, but it was cool to throw birdseed instead of rice, at the time of our wedding

 

[Ohhhdear]

Quote:
Please forgive me for begging to differ, but wild birds eat uncooked rice all the time from rice fields and don't suffer from it. If this was true, than any grain which swells as it's cooked would kill birds... wheat, rice, corn, oats, barley. Yet scratch, which is specifically formulated for chickens contains those grains and doesn't hurt them.
I've seen chickens with their crops stuffed full of uncooked rice and the next day they're happy and healthy and pecking away looking for more.

Churches asked people to switch to soap bubbles because the janitors hated sweeping up the mess from both rice and wild bird seed mix (which also sprouts as weeds in their lawns!).

However, giving Alka Seltzer tablets to seagulls *does* kill them.

 

[maizey]

My son dumped about half a canister of good steel cut oats over his head and all over the floor while reaching into the pantry last night. My gals got it as scratch this morning and loved it. Didn't care for cooked oatmeal (W/BROWN SUGAR AND CINNAMON). I have found though that they don't like ANYTHING the first time they get it...except meal worms..oh and grapes

 

[liz_s]

I use Irish oatmeal and cook it for them to warm them up. I have read on older threads about all of the fun things that you can put in it! If your chickens didn't like the quaker oatmeal, you can maybe try different brand... My girls go absolutely bonkers for it- it's so funny to watch them chase each other around the yard for the chunk one has, when there's a perfectly full bowl in front of them. At least it gets them exercising!

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

I feed my chickens a treat mix of honey, plain yogurt, and uncooked oatmeal.

It is very dangerous because I nearly get trampled every time. If they even suspect a bowl contains the oatmeal treat they jump and bite.

 

[Attila the Hen]

I didn't realize chickens could be so picky. Mine are not --except for a lack of excitement over the oatmeal the other day. They adore grapes and bananas--in fact the rooster will take a grape from me and drop it for a hen but not his bananas--he loves those. I get mobbed for grapes which are getting expensive now --not to mention the carbon footprint of transporting grapes and bananas over thousands of miles for chickens.
They loved the warmed milk with their food. Is there a problem with that? I assume they won't eat something that is not good for them but why would I assume that when we all do it.
How do you know if your chickens are overweight?

 

[Rozzie]

Those of you feeding oatmeal from the grocery store would find your pocketbooks a bit happier if you checked out what the feedstore has for oats. They may even have rolled oats. Depends on your store.

Otherwise, just buy whole oats. The chickens will eat those too. If you REALLY want to cook for your chickens, you could toss the whole oats in the crockpot with some water & cook them overnight...