Oatmeal Flock Breakfast Recipe
January is National Oatmeal month!
Even though there are differing opinions on the value of giving our hens a warm bowl of oatmeal for a winter breakfast, there’s no denying that it makes us feel better to see them gobble up a treat. We came up with a more nutritionally balanced treat to serve up for your flock when the outside temperature plummets.
Oatmeal alone isn’t the best choice to feed your hens, especially during cold weather. Oatmeal has more protein and fewer carbohydrates than cracked corn. During cold weather, your chickens need more carbohydrates in their diet to burn as energy to stay warm.
In the winter, green grass can be hard to find as many areas of the country become snow-covered and our flocks cannot forage as easily. Adding some greens and blueberries to this breakfast treat helps keep those egg yolks golden.
Seeds are also a welcome treat to this breakfast mix. Here we’ve added pumpkin seeds, but any birdseed mix can be added.
Oatmeal Flock Breakfast:
- 4 cups oatmeal (quick-cooking or regular, either will work)
- 8 cups cracked or milled corn
- 16-ounce package of spinach, kale, or other similar green leafy vegetable
- 2 cups sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or bird seed mix
- Frozen blueberries
- Hot water
Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add hot water until the consistency of paste and stir well. I like to use a black rubber feed bowl to mix it up, then carry out to the coop and leave it with the flock. They usually eat it all within a matter of minutes, but the black rubber helps insulate and slows down freezing if they linger in eating it all.
Leave us a comment and let us know how your feathered friends enjoy their breakfast treat.
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