Whole Oats??? Answered

[TheChickenMomma]

Hi! I heard from a vet that Whole Horse Oats was good for chickens all-the-time food. Now im having second guesses. We usually use Layer Pellets but the vet told us about the oats...... Will it kill our chickens if thats all we feed them??? HELP!!!!

 

[sourland]

Oats alone is not a balanced diet conducive to egg production and optimum good health.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/692659/whole-oats-as-chicken-feed

here is a nice thread

 

[Chick Charm]

Oats (whole especially) are very good for chickens. There are some oats the have a digestible (not crude) protein higher than 20%. Most however are not that high. From what I understand there is little to no gluten as fond in other cereal grains. Again, oats are very good for chickens.

As a part of a chickens diet....good. It would NOT BE GOOD to feed chickens oats as their only source of food. Chickens are omnivores and need all kinds of other stuff found in bugs, grass, and minerals that are in plants and some that we need to supplement for them. Like oyster shell.

Wish ya the best!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Yes sourland is totally spot on. Oats can be given as part of the feed but not all. The hulls really are not so good for them in large quantities.

I would try to use them as maybe 10 percent of the feed or less. They need the layer pellets (or a balanced homemixed feed which includes oats).

 

[TheChickenMomma]

Thanks All!!!