New Here. Rice as feed?

[Nassau242]

Hello all, from the Bahamas here. Considering getting some chickens, but one of my main concerns is feed, the main options are of course, coarse cornmeal and the only other cheap available grain is rice. Do chickens enjoy rice, can it be fed to them raw and whole? Would grinding it down make a difference?

 

[cavemanrich]

I suppose if that is all you can get, then feed them that. I personally would cook that rice if possible, but am no expert at it. The other thing that would be good is if they would be able to free range. This way chickens would supplement their diet naturally with insects and plant matter such as grass and such. Bantam chickens are better suited to live off the land than standard chickens. Down side is they are smaller and lay less and smaller eggs. If your desire is to have eggs and eventually meat, then bantams would be a lesser choice.
AND WOULD LIKE TO

 

[maxsgoldens]

You would have to soak the rice first as if you don't it will expand inside the chickens crop and kill them

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You can feed prepared rice but why not just get poultry feed?

 

[Nassau242]

Not sure how expensive poultry feed is here in the Bahamas, but unless there is something I don't know about it's bound to cost three arms and four legs. So soak the rice? And Is the coarse cornmeal good? What about peas?

 

[Ridgerunner]

The myth that rice will explode in a bird or swell up and cause a problem was busted many years ago. Anyone that has been around where rice is grown and have seen the wild birds feasting on it will know that. The reason they don’t want you throwing rice at weddings is not because you are killing wild birds. On hard surfaces dried rice is a slipping hazard.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/birdrice.asp

Chickens grind any food that needs to be ground up in their gizzard, using rocks as grit in place of teeth. Rice, corn, maize, wheat, oats, grass seeds, weed seeds, or hard-shelled bugs do not need to be ground for them. They are quite capable of grinding it for themselves as long as they have access to the ground where they can find pebbles to use as grit.