Whole Oats as chicken feed?

[ChickensAreSweet]

Check out the article from the head of the SPPA in this months Backyard Poultry. He starts chicks at 6 weeks on 50% oats and claims they will learn to eat them & they don't make them fat. I know my feed guy says chickens won't eat a lot of oats, but mine seem to like them.

I saw that too. My chickens eat quite a few oats but they wouldn't be happy with 50%. They sure are individuals, eh?

 

[ChickenJerk]

Some of the most famous standardbred poultry breeders of all time ended the hatching season by turning the breeders out on range with nothing else but oats to eat. This brought them back into condition to compete at fall shows. Winning poultry shows was how these people made their living. People like Halbachs, Miller, Kriner, Stauffer, Davidson, on and on. All the legends.

The commercial poultry industry uses straight oats as feed for laying chickens and turkeys to "soft molt" them when they are recycled. This is the feed used to hold them in good condition as a little bit of weight and all the fat is taken off them before bringing them back up to weight and into production. Oats is all they eat for two or three weeks.

The oldtimers I knew thought of oats as the nearest to perfect feed that any single grain could be.

When I raised Runner ducks oats were at least half of their diet after the breeding season and for the growing birds. In the winter the diet was 1/3 oats.

Chickens, horses, cattle, sheep and hogs- all were brought back to condition and out of poor digestive health but practicing the old husbandry technique of "get them on oats and pasture."

 

[BeulahBreezes]

My chickies love handfuls of Quaker Oats tossed on the lawn! Just a treat though.....~Beulah

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Quacker oats aren't the same as oats. Quacker oats have been steamed and olled and ate just bits left behind.

We feed lots of whole gains.
Whole oats
Whole wheat
Whole millet (white)
BOSS

The grains are always first to be eaten, with the pellets being left for later. We don't have egg production issues,or over weight birds.

It is worth reading up on and figuring out what works for you. I can say when others were reporting bad hatch rates and low fertility, we were having none of those issues.

Since we can garden year round, we are also sowing winter crops such as field peas for the birds and goats to enjoy.

 

[janinepeters]

Here is a nice article on making your own feed from whole grains and other ingredients:
http://backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/1/1-4/Harvey_Ussery.html
If your chickens have a lot of space to free range where plant diversity is good, then insect diversity will also be good, and they will be able to find much of their own food themselves. However, if they will be mostly confined where they will not have access to a variety of plant and insect foods, then I think it would be a really bad idea to feed them nothing but whole oats.

 

[ms4runr]

Some of the most famous standardbred poultry breeders of all time ended the hatching season by turning the breeders out on range with nothing else but oats to eat. This brought them back into condition to compete at fall shows. Winning poultry shows was how these people made their living. People like Halbachs, Miller, Kriner, Stauffer, Davidson, on and on. All the legends.

The commercial poultry industry uses straight oats as feed for laying chickens and turkeys to "soft molt" them when they are recycled. This is the feed used to hold them in good condition as a little bit of weight and all the fat is taken off them before bringing them back up to weight and into production. Oats is all they eat for two or three weeks.

The oldtimers I knew thought of oats as the nearest to perfect feed that any single grain could be.

When I raised Runner ducks oats were at least half of their diet after the breeding season and for the growing birds. In the winter the diet was 1/3 oats.

Chickens, horses, cattle, sheep and hogs- all were brought back to condition and out of poor digestive health but practicing the old husbandry technique of "get them on oats and pasture."

This is interesting. I bought steam Krimped oats, kind of by mistake and decided to give it a try. The bag says 10% protein which I realize is very low. They will not ferment, but I tried and gave it to them after soaking. No go. So I poured them dry into their feeder. They did eat a fair amount, and the strangest thing is when I came out later it was the first time I felt a calm and peace with my small herd. They were much calmer than normal and making soft clucking noises. They did not scatter when I walked in. All that was a first and I've had them for several months now. So, I decide to give them oats as a 'side', and mixed with high quality seed, and continue with pletny of higher quality feed especially as we get closer to brooding time late Spring. Indeed they will tell you what they like. As a note, I put out lots of wild bird seed I got for free and they were not excited at all. But I think I spoiled them with fermented organic mixed grains. Now THAT is a winner to them.

 

[BunkyB]

A good filler if you mix your feeds so they get their calcium intake. Not soley oats tho. As a treat I use the sweet oats with molases(horse feed) I make my own suet balls for the birds and during the winter months they get these suet balls with sweet oats and cracked corn with whatever else I decide to put in. I was told be an old time farmer who has since passed that the oats or sweet oats give the birds warmth and a little more vigor during the winter months.. Of course he said he could not keep his chickens out of his horses feed troughs. They wanted oats all the time...lol

In moderation and not overboard should do no harm. In my opinion anyways. Be3en using sweet oats as a filler for over 25 years now and with the wicked prices of feed these days oats are a lot cheaper and make as I said, a good filler to mix in the feed...

Steve(BunkyB)

 

[GreenMountainEric]

Protein is like 17%

Only if they are dehulled..... And even then, 17% is the very top range. If the hulls are still on, Oats will be between 10% and 12% Protein.

This is interesting. I bought steam Krimped oats, kind of by mistake and decided to give it a try. The bag says 10% protein which I realize is very low. They will not ferment, but I tried and gave it to them after soaking. No go. So I poured them dry into their feeder. They did eat a fair amount, and the strangest thing is when I came out later it was the first time I felt a calm and peace with my small herd. They were much calmer than normal and making soft clucking noises. They did not scatter when I walked in. All that was a first and I've had them for several months now. So, I decide to give them oats as a 'side', and mixed with high quality seed, and continue with pletny of higher quality feed especially as we get closer to brooding time late Spring. Indeed they will tell you what they like. As a note, I put out lots of wild bird seed I got for free and they were not excited at all. But I think I spoiled them with fermented organic mixed grains. Now THAT is a winner to them.

Oats are very high in fiber compared to other whole grains. Oats will calm chickens because they will eat to fill their energy requirements, and because oats are so high in fiber, your chickens will feel very, very full. Its like us, after thanksgiving dinner! Oats are a great maintenance diet for non-production chickens, and also work good as part of a production diet. They are not a top choice for production, because they are fairly low in protein, low in energy, and high in fiber. If the oats are very high bushel weight, they are an exception to that rule. However, most top quality oats go to the food industry. (high bushel weight oats have a larger kernal, and have a much better energy/fiber ratio)

 

[MelRaj]

I am reading a lot of people make their own chicken scratch? Could someone give me a recipe/ratio of how much of what I should mix? I am feeding pellets right now and it seems my chickens don't care much for them, they just crush and dump their food trough.

 

[wsmith]

I feed a 20% protien AG-Land feed milled here in Colorado. They get this free choice all the time. I also provide a tray with ground up oyster shell that they eat when they want it. I mix my own scratch though. My flock doesn't like the millet that is prevelant in so many commercial scratch grain mixes, and too much corn tends to put alot of fat on my chickens. I use a 5-3-2 mix when making my scratch. 5 scoops of whole wheat, 3 scoops of whole oats, 2 scoops of cracked corn. mix up. Repeat until the barrel is full. Refill barrel when empty. They get some scratch twice a day, but only if I don't see any left on the ground.