transition from chicks to pullets - OATS

[goddesses]

Everything I'm reading says you want your chicks to grow at a slow pace so they dont begin to lay too soon. I've also read that the best way to do this is to cut in Oats gradually, starting at 8 weeks, until it represents about 50% of their feed, keeping it there until they are ready for 18%.

Are we talking oats as in grain or oats as in Quaker?

Many thanks

Mother Goddess

 

[LauraSBale]

you can use oats from the mill, I buy Organic oats, I get mine from Whole Foods Store, you can buy it by bulk.

I use a mix of Flax seed, Oats, millet, and grit, and put in a baby chick feeder.

and have their feed right beside it. they seem to eat equally amounts of the gains as they do there feed.

 

[pkeeler]

The oats will bring the protein content of your feed from 18-20% (chick starter) to 15-16%. You could just buy chick grower with 16% protein and do the same thing. I was planning on using oats until I went to the feed store and found the oats were more expensive than the commercial feed. When (if) prices drop I will start using oats.

Your feed store should have 50# bags of whole oats. You can use any kind of oats really, it just gets more costly.

 

[smom1976]

I had no idea about giving them oats.. I can get some oats from walmart and start supplementing their food. Great thanks for the tip.

dont you want the chicks to have a higher protein to grow?

 

[LaurelRidgeDreams]

I searched for a post about feeding 50% oats to 8 week old pullets to help them grow up slowly. Do most folks supplement with oats or scratch during the grow up time? This is confusing. I'm feeding medicated Southern States starter/grower feed with 18% protein. My pullets are 13 weeks old. They are eating like crazy and I'm not limiting how much I feed. Sure don't want to have prolapse problems because they grow up too fast.

What should I do?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
Well oats will have differing amounts of protein depending on what kind you use. If the hull is still there then a significant portion of the feed is hulls. So you must take that into consideration. (The bag will tell you how much protein there is.)

I have read in several places on internet that oats and barley combined should comprise no more than 15% of the total feed.
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Making-Poultry-Feeds-2.html


Here are some websites that state otherwise:

http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/livestock/poultry/bba01s20.html

http://www.ca.uky.edu/smallflocks/Feed_ingredients/Grains.html#Oats

So, my advice is to not go overboard with the oats but certainly decreasing the protein concentration of your feed to 17% shouldn't hurt (or whereever you personally want it to be unless too low). My chickens eat oats every day in their mix and they think they are not so great. They are some of the last to get cleaned up.

http://www.lionsgrip.com/feedinstruc.html
scroll down to growing ration
this is a fun website

I recommend using pounds instead of parts when mixing feed.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Feeding+chickens+the+old-fashioned+way.-a019362162
another one

Mixing feed is a lot of fun!