Rolled oats ? They won't eat it

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

I was feeling brave the other day when I was at the feed store and I bought a bag of rolled oats. Turns out it isn't anything like oatmeal (which they love) it is just crushed regular oats and they won't eat them.

Anyone found a way to make them delicious? Wondering if cooking, steaming, fermenting or adding molasses would help.

 

[nuthatched]

You can eat them, they just need cooked longer. Oats make chicken poop extra sticky so they really shouldn't have a lot.

 

[Perris]

I was feeling brave the other day when I was at the feed store and I bought a bag of rolled oats. Turns out it isn't anything like oatmeal (which they love) it is just crushed regular oats and they won't eat them.

Anyone found a way to make them delicious? Wondering if cooking, steaming, fermenting or adding molasses would help.

Make them into porridge with water and/or milk (simmer 5 mins) and serve them warm on a cold morning, and the flock will wolf them down.

 

[ChooksInTheDaintree]

mix it in with their regular food they will never know!

 

[K0k0shka]

Why are you looking for ways to force feed them oats? Especially if they refuse to eat them? Oats aren't a chicken food. They are filler and not very nutritious. Cook them for yourself, and feed the chickens proper poultry feed.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Afraid I have to agree that there is no good reason to feed them oats. I know there is a You Tube lady that shows her home made chicken food recipe which has part rolled oats.... It's total non-sense but for the record I've tried to give rolled oats as a treat and it was all left behind, they really don't want it. Maybe you can donate it to a Horse rescue....

 

[Aunt Angus]

Mine like anything mushy and warm. Oats are a "treat," so don't do a lot.

My opinion? They are tasty human food! I love cooked rolled oats with a little bit of honey or with a dollop of clotted cream! Yum yum!

 

[DParker75089]

I was feeling brave the other day when I was at the feed store and I bought a bag of rolled oats. Turns out it isn't anything like oatmeal (which they love) it is just crushed regular oats and they won't eat them.

Anyone found a way to make them delicious? Wondering if cooking, steaming, fermenting or adding molasses would help.

The term "oatmeal" can refer to rolled oats, steel-cut (aka "pinhead") oats, instant oats (which is mostly just chopped up rolled oats), finely ground oats or the cooked preparation of one of these raw products. Is the form your chickens do like steel-cut or the instant preparations?

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

The term "oatmeal" can refer to rolled oats, steel-cut (aka "pinhead") oats, instant oats (which is mostly just chopped up rolled oats), finely ground oats or the cooked preparation of one of these raw products. Is the form your chickens do like steel-cut or the instant preparations?

I thought it would be like the oatmeal (Quaker type you cook for humans) but it is just oats (grain) that has been crushed. I thought oats was high in good stuff, surprised it is a filler food.

They have hen food, I just give them scratch to keep them occupied. I sprout them so the ones they don't eat grow and make little plants that they pick.

I sprout wheat, oats, barley, sunflowers (basically anything the feed store sells I will try to sprout)

 

[DParker75089]

I thought it would be like the oatmeal (Quaker type you cook for humans) but it is just oats (grain) that has been crushed. I thought oats was high in good stuff, surprised it is a filler food.

They have hen food, I just give them scratch to keep them occupied. I sprout them so the ones they don't eat grow and make little plants that they pick.

I sprout wheat, oats, barley, sunflowers (basically anything the feed store sells I will try to sprout)

That's what I'm saying. All of the oats I listed are in fact oatmeal that are routinely cooked for humans. You're thinking specifically of instant/rolled oats, which are just one form of oats people eat. I make a big batch of steel cut oats every week in my pressure cooker.