Oat for chicken ?

[dcheam]

I bought 100lb of raw oat (not dehulled), mixed it with chicken feed i bought from the feed store. sometimes the chickens will eat it, other times they would just pick out the chicken feed and push the oat to the ground. I'm thinking of roasting the oat and find a grinder to grind them down before feeding the chickens, but grinders are expensive and i can't find a used one for now. Do you all know of any better way ? Please let me know.

Thank you.

 

[Chris09]

Soak them in water overnight..

Chris

 

[Organics North]

Yep.. soak and rinse with water, do that for a few days and they will sprout!
You can find a grinder for under $30 on ebay. I did and it works fine.

Oats are great, but remember you are unbalancing the balanced diet in the feed you feed.
ON

 

[dcheam]

Quote:
Hi Organic North,

Thanks for the hint.

what is the brand of the grinder that you bought ?

I'm getting more crushed corn (50lb) from the feed store, and a mix grain (50lb). Hopefully that's good.

 

[dcheam]

Quote:
Hi Chris

Thanks for the hint.

Do you have to worry about the hull (the outer shell ) after soaking ?

 

[Organics North]

I bought mine from these guys.
Just a cheap made in mexico grinder but it works!
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Premium-Cas...452408460?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0#ht_4115wt_983
ON

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Hi Chris

Thanks for the hint.

Do you have to worry about the hull (the outer shell ) after soaking ?

I don't worry about the hull. I soak them for a night or two and changing the water maybe twice a day.. They will swell up from the water. Then I drain it then feed it to them hull and all..

Chris

 

[racuda]

I'm surprised they won't eat the oats as is. I buy feed oats, and mix with sunflower seeds in lieu of scratch, and all of mine love 'em.

 

[dcheam]

Quote:
my chickens are borned on may 12, so they are about 3 months old ... maybe it is the size of it ?

where did you get the sun flower seeds ?

 

[dsqard]

I don't know how much is too expensive but one thing that I have noticed is that if it is made for a specific animal need it is usually more expensive. I have really noticed that in horse products. To buy a two step mounting block costs like $40 to $60. If I go to the hardware store and buy a two step plastic step stool it is like $10 bucks. Depending on how much you want to grind at a time, I would suggest either a coffee grinder or a small food processor. It will probably be much less expensive and work really well. Also, you can just keep feeding them the oats without doing anything to them. I have noticed that my chickies don't go nuts over something new until they have had it a few times and then decide if they like it. Mine love whole oats but they didn't gobble them up right away. Same with the sunflower seeds. You can get BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) at Walmart around where you can find wild bird seed or feed stores usually carry them too. Hope this helps!