Figured Out How Many Cups of Feed Equals One Pound!!

[Kiki]

What would you recommend for feeding 6 chickens?

 

[Kiki]

I'm trying to quote TalkALittle but it's not working for me.

 

[TalkALittle]

What would you recommend for feeding 6 chickens?

I'm trying to quote TalkALittle but it's not working for me.

I'm a bad one to ask. I free feed my 9 hens and don't measure anything.

If you want to measure the feed though, then I have read numerous sources which state that 1/4 pound/bird/day of an average 16% protein commercial layer feed is an appropriate amount to provide enough energy and protein for optimum egg production in Leghorn type birds.

 

[Kiki]

thanks!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The "pint is a pound" saying only works if your talking about water (or other liquids of approximately the same density).

A pint is a measure of volume and a pound is a measure of weight (mass). In order to convert between the two you need to know the density of the material. And that all goes out the window of you are talking about something like chicken pellets that have spaces of air between them.

Think about it this way. I could fill a pint container with cotton balls and it would not weigh a pound. I could full it with lead balls and it would weigh much more. A pint container filled of solid lead would weigh still more because there would be no air spaces.

Do you remember the trick question "what weighs more, a pound of feathers of a pound of rocks?" Well, of course they both weigh a pound, but the pile of feathers will occupy more space. It illustrates the difference between mass and volume and how they are dependent on density of the substance.

I agree.... sort of. However we are feeding chickens here not making Q-tips. The next time you buy groceries take a pound of rice or dried beans and see what the volume is in a pound of rice or dry beans. My birds don't do well on cotton balls and I doubt that your's will eat them either.

 

[mrsfeig86]

A bunch of folks will no doubt chime in with "just free feed 24/7"

My take is this.  Feed the amount you are projecting.  Feed most of that amount in the morning.  When you check the feed in late afternoon, just look.  Is it dead empty?  If so, when was it emptied?  By noon?  This will tell you that your morning feeding was seriously deficient for their appetites and needs.  I feed as much as they can eat and virtually finish before going to roost.  That means I've fed them right.  Experience comes into play here.  Were there ranging opportunities?  Was there table scraps thrown as well?  If a balanced feed is offered, the reality is that most chickens never "over eat".

Will ducks over eat? We have a family of ducks, actually half of our chicks believe they are ducks, with our chickens and just wondering.

 

[Deasunja]

Hi There Happy Flock Keepers...and the rest of you...

Any thoughts on this...
I ferment feed with whey and water which doubles the weight of the dry grain.
The girls have a forest and compost piles to forage in and we give them kitchen scraps....

My question is...Do I need to go by the dry weight when estimating feed requirements?
Or can I use the doubled weight with the whey and all it's vitamins and the increased available protein via fermentation?

It seems to come down to observation and trial.....but still, anyone care to weigh in on this matter?

Thank you much Team.

DeAsUnJa
Avalon Gardens
Arizona

 

[Don P]

The fermented feed is the same amount, it just soaked with water. So feed the same amount. But only feed what they will eat in 1 hour of the wet feed because it is molding and will be bad for them.
Put out dry feed for the rest of the day. they can only eat so much at one time and fill their crop and then once that is digested they need to eat again.
So if you only want to put out the exact amount you want to feed them, then I would put out enough to feed for one hour of fermented, and then put another 1/4 cup of dry feed per hen out for them for later in the day

 

[mskluck]

Hello all,
While searching the question "how much to feed adult chickens per day", we find that the answer seems to be "1/4 lb per chicken, 1/3 lb if it is a very large chicken".

I don't know about you, but the feed scoopers that I use aren't measured by the pound!!

Thank you so much. It certaintly helped ME and my 8 girls.

This question has been eating at me for weeks now, SO- I finally broke out my postage scale and measuring cups, and got to weighing chicken feed. The feed I used for weighing was Dumor Grower/Finisher Crumble.

I discovered that:

• Exactly 3/4 cup = 1/4 lb. So one average size chicken should be fed 3/4 of a cup per day.
• Exactly 1 cup = 1/3 lb. So one very large chicken should be fed 1 whole cup per day.

So if I have 4 average size hens, I should be giving them 3 cups of feed per day. 8 average size hens get 6 cups per day. And so on. I'll have to see if the weight varies a lot by brand or formula, but at least now I have SOME idea of how much feed equals one pound!

Hope this information helps someone out there desperately searching for information on how much they should feed their chickens.

Jenne

 

[Cindy in PA]

This would vary depending on the type of feed, but is a starting point.