[ehs284]

Don't panic about reheating rice for chooks. They're not humans and pick up most of their food from the ground. Those minerals we like them to pick up when free ranging aren't sterile. The bacteria causing rice problems is usually Bacillus cereus and it produces two toxins if left warm. This was a problem a few years ago when restaurants/take-aways part-cooked rice in bulk, kept it warm and then finished it for service. The toxins are not destroyed by the heat of the finishing pan. If you cook properly from scratch then the bacteria are killed before they have a chance to produce toxins. Any food not eaten and stored can be contaminated so the advice is to heat to 'piping hot' (I've no idea either!) - but if it's all at 80C then all bacteria are dead. I normally make more rice than I need, freeze/refrigerate and reheat or I did before the chooks; now they get it.
If you're still worried about reheating, consider that half the hospitals in the UK use cook chill where food is cooked, chilled and reheated (they call it regeneration). It needs doing properly, but is quite safe.
One thing (amongst many) that I'm not sure about is their ability to sense heat or over hot food. I make sure that any cooked food is cooled to below skin temperature, but if they were given something too hot, would they realise before burning their mouths?

[T C]

dont think i will feed the rice uncooked, i had already gone off of the idea to many of you  against it, they dont seem to like it much cooked, they like pasta, i will cook  it up with somthing with the rice they may go for it then

[orchardlady]

Hey there ehs283. You commented about not being sure if hens ability to sense hot or over hot food. Regrettably and to my shame I can tell you they do. When I was a small girl of 8 I was instructed to give our hens their breakfast. I went into my mothers artist studio that was near the hens run, boiled the kettle and made up their food with boiling water. Yep they did as you might imagine..... 'Oh goodie breakfast' ......Yelp toooooo hot! In my defence I was young, unsupervised and it was a harsh frosty morning. I still haven't told my mother of my terrible deed that happened over 30 years ago...I've carried the guilt with me all this time..Sniff.

[ehs284]

Thank you Orchard Lady. By sharing that you have helped lots of people - and their chooks.
I'll make sure it  is properly cooled every time.