Oats and feed question

[eggcamefirst]

I keep seeing posts where people are feeding chicks dry oatmeal or something, what is it and where can I get it?

Also I ran out of my starter bag of medicated feed and I bought a new bag of starter/grower that is non-medicated, I assume its ok to switch? Should I start Provisol in the water to compensate?

 

[MattMansChickens]

were your chicks vaccinated?

 

[kara_leigh]

I use dry quick oats, b/c it is chopped up smaller and it easier for the little ones to eat. You can find it in any grocery store cereal aisle. I just buy the Walmart brand in the huge tub.

 

[eggcamefirst]

Dry quick oats, as in if you add water you get oatmeal?

I don't know if the chicks were vaccinated or not....

 

[Nicole01]

The medicated feed is to build up an immunity to cocci, which is everywhere. Not sure how old your chicks are. Some chicks are fine without it.

I feed dry rolled oats. I make sure they have grit to grind up the oats.

 

[eggcamefirst]

So I should continue with medicated or at 2.5 weeks are they ok to switch?

 

[Nicole01]

If it were me, I'd go out and get a bag of medicated and save the unmedicated for later when the chicks are older. There are a lot of people who do not feed medicated. I personally would not want a coccidais(sp) outbreak in my flock. It's devastating and has a high mortality rate.

 

[cmom]

I agree. Most feed stores sell rolled oats (oatmeal) and regular oats. I have given my birds both. regular oats are about half of the price of rolled oats. I mix the oats with scratch and sunflower seed and give it to them as treats. I also have a bowl of grit available to my chicks. I buy chick grit at Tractor Supply. When they have run out I have sifted my regular grit and given them the sifted grit. They need it in their gizzards to grind their food.

 

[kara_leigh]

Quote:
Yup! I only have a few birds that eat it, so I just buy the stuff from the grocery store. I also don't have anywhere to store large amounts of it. A big container of it lasts me at least a couple weeks, if not more. I don't feed it everyday.

 

[cmom]

Sometimes I don't always think things through to well. I buy everything in 50# bags. I keep my grain in metal trash cans with lids, but I have over 100 birds.