given 200# rice-ok for chickens main staple

[Kingsfarm]

Can my DP free range chickens eat raw rice as their main food with another mixture of milk/bran....they get the calcium from the milk but on the days no milk will make sure to have oyster shell available.....my question is -- since I have all this rice can I use it and not hurt the chickens? They free range in daytime.....fed twice a day...

 

[old fashioned]

I don't know about being their main staple or even raw. I wouldn't think it would give enough nutrients, but I have given leftover cooked rice to my chickens & they love it but only as an occaisional treat.

 

[Wifezilla]

Well, they are getting freerange time. It it were me, I would have a bin of regular feed, a bin of rice, and then freerange. They will self-regulate.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

You could save it for winter, and feed them warm rice in the mornings.

 

[savingdogs]

In one of my chicken books, I read that you can't feed them rice raw, it isn't healthy or they can't digest it. But it is fine cooked first, although it does not provide a balance of nutrients.

I would save it for the cold winter days, you can serve it to them warm (not hot). It can hurt them to try to swallow liquid or food that is too hot, so cook it and let it cool down first.

I cook a big pot of rice if we are caught short of chicken food, but I leave it at that and don't feed it on a regular basis.

 

[Britesea]

I have read, on the other hand, that raw rice is fine for larger wild birds and chickens (as a matter of fact, when they plant rice fields in LA, they do so by plane... when the blackbirds hear a plane they will follow it to the field and descend and scarf down all the seed). Birds have been eating raw rice in rice growing regions forever. But rice- especially white rice- is pretty low in nutrients compared to other grains. I think that's the real reason it's not a popular feed seed. I wonder if cooking it with whey would unlock more nutrients?

 

[Emerald]

I have read, on the other hand, that raw rice is fine for larger wild birds and chickens (as a matter of fact, when they plant rice fields in LA, they do so by plane... when the blackbirds hear a plane they will follow it to the field and descend and scarf down all the seed). Birds have been eating raw rice in rice growing regions forever. But rice- especially white rice- is pretty low in nutrients compared to other grains. I think that's the real reason it's not a popular feed seed. I wonder if cooking it with whey would unlock more nutrients?

I have to agree with you on this one-my chickens digest whole corn and nothing but poo comes out the other end.. They would be able to digest rice much easier.(their gizzards with grit will grind it all up into paste). I have given them a couple scoops here and there of whole brown rice that got buggy on me and a bit that go rancid(they did not mind).. Not as their only food but mixed in with their regular foods. But then they get rabbit pellets that I mix with boiling water in the winter.. the pellets swell and break apart and when it is cool enuf for them to eat I take it out to them.

I've given them buggy oat meal too.. just poured boiling water over it and let it sit and cool and then they get warm brekky in the winter.

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[hoosier]

I always thought rice would swell and rupture their organs... like they say happens to pigeons. Maybe that's just a myth...

I think if that were true, there would be a lot of pigeons being fed rice in the areas that are trying to get rid of them.

 

[~gd]

I always thought rice would swell and rupture their organs... like they say happens to pigeons. Maybe that's just a myth...

I think if that were true, there would be a lot of pigeons being fed rice in the areas that are trying to get rid of them.

Myth for sure. I think it might have started when churches baned rice because it was hard to clean up and caused a slip hazzard and in the cities was attracting pigeons to the churches and pigeon droppings are even harder to clean up. Foil /plastic confetti is now being banned because it is hard to clean up and does not biodegrade. ~gd