couple o' general feeding questions

[horsewishr]

1) Are chickens more like dogs (who do well on two feedings a day) or like horses (who do better if allowed to graze 24/7)?? I put my girls in the tractor for most of the day if it's really hot out. They have water. I generally throw in treats a couple times a day, or toss in a couple cups of chicken food. But do I need to? The tractor is huge (150 square feet for four hens), and I wonder if the grass is good enough for several hours.

2) How small a food particle can they pick up? My feeder was just about empty this morning, but it had a lot of small crumbs and broken up (powdery) chicken food left in it. When I refilled it, the girls acted like they were starving. It occurred to me that perhaps they weren't able to pick up the really small particles, and actually were starving (BAD mom!). Next time, should I dump out the powdery stuff before refilling the feeder?

 

[alex]

well, chickens should have the feeder by them all the time so they can eat out of it whenever they want to, and what i have heard, is that the more they free range, the less they will be eating there regular seed mix.

-alex

 

[chrissieg]

I think birds will have a problem picking up the dust, their beaks just aren't shaped right! Mix it with something soft and feed it that way - everybody happy!

Leave food out all the time - they will eat grass in preference (at least mine will)

 

[Lunachick]

I leave their regular feed out for them all day. When they free range (when I'm home) a few hours a day, they will run into their run and munch on the mash whenever they want. Plus all the other goodies I bring out for them. But they're not spoiled!