Treats for meatbirds

[chickenchicklady]

Is it advised against to give meat birds treats? Specifically oatmeal? It’s a cold day today, and I just moved my 4 week olds to the tractor yesterday. I can tell they’re a bit chilly, I was thinking maybe I’d give them warm bowl of oatmeal to warm them up.

 

[M-H-Fielding]

I give mine all kinds of treats, I think it would be fine to give them oatmeal. I give mine beans, oats, grains and whatever I give my regular flock.

 

[3KillerBs]

I would be even more cautious giving Cornish X treats than layers because of all the issues they're known to have. Dilution the nutrition of their feed seems unwise to me.

 

[M-H-Fielding]

I would be even more cautious giving Cornish X treats than layers because of all the issues they're known to have. Dilution the nutrition of their feed seems unwise to me.

I don't give mine treats all the time, just a bit here and there. Hardly even once a week... they have a steady diet of protein feed.

 

[Morrigan]

I think it would be fine to give them oatmeal or other treats.

A few years ago, when I was raising CX, I accidentally got a 50 bag of crimped oats, instead of whole barley. Since I had already cut open the bag, I didn't want to take it back to the feed store. I just started mixing the oats into their fermented feed -- maybe 10 to 15% by volume. They all did fine. I've also been pretty free with with given them old produce, grass clippings, sprouted wheat and barley, and weeds. In my experience a CX will convert just about any type of food into weight gain. The only things I would avoid is giving them were very salty foods (which are not good for chickens) or very strong smelling types of food -- fish, garlic, etc. -- as I would worry it might end up impacting the meat flavor.