How many times/day do you feed your chickens?

[KowTippin]

We feed twice a day, right now it is winter so we give them more feed (I use crumbles and have more problems with my helpers spilling and wasting the food than the hens)....in the summer they would rather eat the grass so we always have feed left over at the end of the day. We leave the feed in the run all day for them to eat at will and remove it at night to try to reduce risk of attracting preditors.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

that sounds like a lot of work people !!! guess thats why i let them eat all day. lol waterer big enough to last a few days. 5 gal. feeder, all i have to do every day is grab the eggs and run. oh, and throw the scraps at them as i go.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

I feed twice a day. My birds all free range, so I only give them a small bucket full of feed in the morning and another one in the afternoon, an hour or two before they go to bed. Oyster shells and cuttlebones are available throughout the day just outside their coop. And of course, being free range, they seem to think they have an all access pass to my veggie and herb garden, lol.

what are cuttlebones? well, besides fish bone i mean.

 

[Cheyen]

Cuttlebones are bones from a cuttlefish! I used to have aquatic turtles, and they would file their beaks using cuttlebones. It's like a block of calcium, really. Chickens like it just as much. I've even seen my roo peck at it. I think people also use them for their parakeets and other birds like that.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

oh, i remember those from my raising bird days. wouldnt of thought to give to my chickens though.

 

[Cheyen]

Not all of them use it for their beaks. I really just got it for my battery hen. He beak was cut, and it constantly grew back jagged and sharp. She loves filing her beak on it. The others just peck it until it crumbles. Then they eat it up, lol.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

i have 2 half grown hens with crossed beak, i call them twist and twisted sister. wonder if it would help them?

 

[Cheyen]

I don't know about crossed beak. Never had a chicken with that. It wouldn't hurt to try, though.

 

[Granny Hatchet]

perhaps i should make them some braces ? they are still growing and i can take their beak and very easily move it into the correct position.maybe a figure 8 out of wire and take it off a few times a day for them to eat and drink. THATS IT !!!!! chicken braces.

 

[Cheyen]

perhaps i should make them some braces ? they are still growing and i can take their beak and very easily move it into the correct position.maybe a figure 8 out of wire and take it off a few times a day for them to eat and drink. THATS IT !!!!! chicken braces.