# Which oats should be used for mouse food?



## bakerlady

I would like to make my own mouse food and have been researching different mixes. Most of them list oats. My question is which type of oats do I use: whole, crushed, hulled, rolled? I'm hoping that I can use whole or crushed so I can buy it in bulk from the feed store. I would love to know what other people use for their mice.


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## WNTMousery

Oat groats, rolled oats, whole oats are all fine. It is best to avoid the "quick oats".


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## Cait

I buy bruised oats - the mice like them more than rolled oats. Beware the cheaper sacks of oats you can get as they tend to contain a lot of husks, which are not eaten of course.


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## WNTMousery

What are bruised oats?


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## Cait

Ones that got beaten up by the other oats :lol: Sorry, couldn't resist. I found this which may prove useful:

*Types of oat*
• Whole oats: These are as they come from the field, complete with the husks (or outer casing). This means they have the highest fibre level of all oats and grains. However, very young horses or veterans with teeth problems may have difficulty chewing these, so will not get the full nutritional benefit.

• Bruised oats: The husk of the oat is broken to allow access to the nutrients. Bear in mind that this process will shorten the shelf life of the oats to a few weeks.

• Rolled oats: Rolling has a similar effect to bruising. Traditionally, horsemen would buy whole oats and roll them on an ad hoc basis to maximise storage time.

• Crimped oats: This process damages the husk and increases the surface area, so the digestive juices can get to work more effectively.

• Clipped oats: Oats are often clipped alongside bruising. The ends of the grain are trimmed to give a neater final product.

• Crushed oats: This is a rougher process, which involves breaking both the husk and the kernel of the oat. This makes them slightly more digestible, but they suffer from an even shorter shelf life.

• Naked oats: These are not processed, but are grown to have loose husks that are shed when harvested. This lowers the fibre content and increases digestibility. In addition, they have a third more digestible energy and protein than a standard oat, plus they are high in oil. These elements are the 'rocket fuel' in oats.


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## WNTMousery

Ok, the oat groats available over here are the oats with the hulls removed. I was told they are marketed for goats at feed stores.


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## SephysManda

Oooooo thanks MouseBreeder, that helps a lot!


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## bakerlady

Thank you so much! Very helpful!


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## Matt Haslam

I just finished a 25kg sack of bruised oats and have had to use my back up of rolled oats until the next delivery.

My mice much prefer bruised oats and the rolled oats i have is very husk heavy.


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## Wight Isle Stud

I will have to watch and confirm, but i believe the mice strip off the outer husks and just eat the inside, so therfore I believe whole is best, as you can genrally trust the nutritional contents as its protected by natures packaging.


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## Matt Haslam

I'll be back. said:


> I will have to watch and confirm, but i believe the mice strip off the outer husks and just eat the inside, so therfore I believe whole is best, as you can genrally trust the nutritional contents as its protected by natures packaging.


This is interesting, as i have observed that 'older' fanciers prefer whole oats and newer fanciers prefer bruised.

The point about keeping nutritional content is a good one, bruised or rolled oats hold nutritional value for around 6 weeks i believe, so for people with lots of mice this isn't a problem.


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## Cait

6 weeks? A sack of oats is lucky to last over a week here once it's opened :lol:


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## WNTMousery

The rolled oats I referenced are the kind sold as human-grade in grocery stores. They do not have husks.


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## Cait

Like porridge oats? Yes, that is what we call rolled oats too but when we buy them in sacks (20kg) they do tend to have husks in the sack with them unfortunately.


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## SarahC

If I could I would feed my mice almost exclusively on groats,the clean husk free hearts of the oat.To expensive though in the amounts I would need.


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## Cait

I agree with Sarah. I used to feed oat groats when I had pet mice only, but it would cost a LOT to feed the amount of mice that I keep now on groats. I think I'll just have to win the lottery so I can build myself a custom mousery with the best facilities, buy only the best food and spend as much time as I like in there :lol:


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## geordiesmice

Mousebreeder you must have 1000s of mice?


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## Cait

No, not thousands, more like 150 depending on when I count :shock: That's not classed as that many when it comes to showing though.


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## Stina

why does everyone seem concerned about the husks?....they aren't harmful for them to eat....and what does it matter if they don't?..... I get rolled oats from our local farm store and they do tend to have quite a lot of husks.


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## geordiesmice

I use the same Stina let the mouse work to get the food.


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## SarahC

Stina said:


> why does everyone seem concerned about the husks?....they aren't harmful for them to eat....and what does it matter if they don't?..... I get rolled oats from our local farm store and they do tend to have quite a lot of husks.


They don't eat the husks,that's the point.
Can't speak for anyone else but with the price of food here I don't want to pay for something that is going in the bin,nothing to do with the actual dietry requirement of the mice.


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## geordiesmice

I wouldnt imagine the husk weighs much of course it would in a 20kg sack.Just on the topic of sacks of feed My local they dont sell in 20kg they sell in 15kg max because of health and safety for carrying, My old job a risk assesment was done well on every mortal thing really lol but on carrying bags of compost top dressing etc and we were sent mannual handling courses.It was implemented where we were not allowed to carry ourselves a sack of anything if it was over 15kg it had to be barrowed or two people carry the 20kg for eg it mustnt apply to feed ,pet retailers etc if you did your back in carrying over 15kg then your claim for compensation would be a fight.


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## Cait

Legally I believe it's 25kg that you can't carry more than. 20 is heavy enough though!


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## SarahC

20 kilos of groats is much smaller in volume than 20 kilos of oats so the husk must contribute a fare bit.I use 60 kilos of food a week,I prefer it to be eaten.I've been told by my supplier of the health and safety issue surrounding the weight of sacks.I have no problem getting 20 kilo sacks but prefer 25 kilos.I was told that 25 k sacks were no longer available for wild bird seed but have just found out that this is not the case at all.I'm back to 25 k now.


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## Cait

That's interesting, how much is a 25kg sack (assuming it's wild bird)? I have Eyebrook 20kg wild bird seed mix from the farm shop I use. I think it's almost £10 a sack now. The bruised oats are Dodson & Horrell (as is my flaked barley), and from memory the oats are £6.30 and the barley £6.85 (though I have an odd feeling that the barley comes in 18kg sacks whereas the oats are 20kg).


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## SarahC

it doesn't work out cheaper,I just prefer the bigger bags.


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## geordiesmice

I buy the sacks of hen mix it has oats in it , sarah the parakeet mix you get does yours have alot of sunflower seeds in it?


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## Wight Isle Stud

MouseBreeder said:


> 6 weeks? A sack of oats is lucky to last over a week here once it's opened :lol:


thats why we use whole oats- remember there is only one or two crop of oats a year.


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## Wight Isle Stud

watch your germination levels with wild bird food- its all the poorest stuff thats somtimes left over from last years crop.


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## geordiesmice

I buy the good wild bird seed no chaff in it at all with Aniseed they sell alot of it too so its not sitting in the premisis for months. As with all seeds, grains they must be kept in a cool dry place or germination will take place and also mould grows on the grain etc making it toxic.


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## laoshu

Can anyone tell me if superior oats and groats are the same thing :?


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