cjsscreen
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feeding oatsDoes anyone here feed oats to their chickens? If so how do you prepare it or do you just throw it out there on the ground. A friend of mine feed oats that looks like oat meal cereal but first mixes it with water and calf milk replacer.
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Fiveravens
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My fowls are all fed on whole oats and whole maize, fed ad lib from hoppers. They get nothing else - no balancer, layers' mash, pellets or anything of that kind. They are at total liberty, mind, and are able to range over fields and woods to their hearts' content. People are sometimes surprised to learn that chickens can manage whole grains - especially maize - but they do so happily. I do grind the grain for the young chicks , and mix it with mashed sardines and milk, but at two weeks old, they're eating the same rations as their mothers. The eggs are plentiful and top quality, and the flesh of the cockerels is delicious, although the fat is yellow instead of white.
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cjsscreen
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free rangeMy intent was to free range. I bought electric poultry netting and was doing very well till the Large Red tailed hawks took notice of those fine gormet marans in my pasture. Now I am building pens with netting on top.
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@Calli
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Ours get layer pellets supplemented by kitchen scraps, sloes and blackberries, remnants of horsefeed(inc oats whole and rolled) and seem to be thriving. Semi free range so free access to gravelled area too
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Bugs
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We give oats as an occasional supplement from moulting through to spring (including an extra portion of porridge made for the chickens when we have it for breakfast   ); they contain a lot of good stuff but I think they can be quite fattening if they make up a large part of the diet. This is probably less of a problem if you are freeranging on Fiveravens' scale, but as ours are backyard pampered ladies this is probably little use to you
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