Raw rice?

[Lothiriel]

Can I feed it to my chickens? My dad said that it explodes in their "gullet" (read: crop

) and I shouldn't give it to them.

 

[Imp]

It's an old wives tale. OK to give them raw rice. I do about 1x a week for years.

Imp

I read years ago that it started as an April Fool's Joke in the 1950's, in a Dear Abby or Ann Landers column.

 

[galanie]

Agree with Imp. That old wives tale even made cities pass ordinances making it illegal to throw rice at weddings for fear of killing wild birds!

No one told the wild ducks and other birds about it though, they still gorge on the rice fields when they can.

 

[sambia62]

this is great to know I have quite a bit of rice i need to get rid of maybe i will just mix it in with my other feed will that be ok ?

 

[moodlymoo]

Ive wondered the same thing. My soon to be ex bought a huge bag of brown basmati rice from costco and my kids wont tough it because its to "chewy" translation...healthy for them. Im not a rice eater at all so I wont eat in. Can I mix it into the feed for them or give it with treats sometimes.

 

[Lothiriel]

Since Imp and galanie told me it was ok to give it to my chickens, I've just been giving them some plain in their "snack bowl" every day. They go nuts for it.

 

[cva34]

Grew up next to Rice fields and worked in /hunted in, and all kinds of birds eat it.Ducks and geese fly thousands of miles to feed in those fields.Our chic ate it too...cva34

 

[onafixedincome]

The problem comes when you scatter or feed instant-type rice, I believe--it *does* swell up when wet.

Just how much rice can chickens have in their diet? A friend is feeding almost exclusively to her free-range chooks, and there's not a lot besides the rice available to them at the moment...

 

[pawsplus]

I add "raw" brown rice (and millet) to my homemade scratch mixture. It also contains rolled oats and BOSS. They love it and it's very healthy.

 

[mondotomhead]

I make up Minute rice and scramble some eggs in it for my chickens. Do you guys think this is OK? I DO NOT give them raw Minute rice.