Opinion - 1lb of flaked rye needs rice hulls?

I have a all-grain recipe that has a 11lb 12oz malt bill, 1lb of which is flaked rye and another 4oz is rice hulls. Do I even need the rice hulls with 1lb of rye flakes, or is it better to have them and not need them? I have a 10 gallon false bottom Rubbermaid cooler as my mash tun.

Red Rye'Der Rye Pale Ale
http://hopville.com/recipe/1495500

Thanks

I don't think the rice hulls are necessary at all, I only use them with wheat but they can't hurt anything either

I do not think you need them, but if you have rice hulls handy, you may as well toss a handful in.

I am now in the habit of using rice hulls in every mash. They are cheap, and the only downside is you cant reuse the spent grain for bread, so why not.

If I'm going to offer my spent grains as chicken-feed to my neighbor, do the chickens care about rice hulls?

I cant imagine they do....but I'd also like to know this, my neighbor also raises chickens and I want to start giving them my grain.

Here are a couple of the neighborhood "urban" chickens enjoying the grains from my Bourbon Honey Ale brew on Saturday. The two families that use my grains said the chickens won't mind if there are rice hulls in the grain in the future.

@high5apparatus that's great!

Experienced my only stuck sparge while using flaked rye. It was nearly a nightmare. I've used rice hulls in every batch of beer since.
Cheers

This is a very late followup, but I brewed the Rye Pale Ale again over the weekend and this time I did not use rice hulls. I got all my grains and water, less the rye flakes, into the mash tun, then I put the rye flakes on the very top and lightly stirred them in. I let the sparge ring trickle a little strike water on top, made sure my temp was good, then sealed up the tun. The mash was fine (84% efficiency), and no stuck sparge.

BTW, I am also up to three families in my neighborhood who have urban chicken roosts. I made an email list and I let them know when I plan to brew, then when the spent grains are available.