10lbs. of food in one week?!

[Hatrick]

I guess when you're growing at a rate of twice your size every hour, you have to eat lots but good grief.

I bought a 10lb. bag of chick starter last Tuesday and it's practically gone! Is this normal?

I know that they're scratching at it a lot so some of it is ending up lost in the shavings but, whoa.

When do I move them to "adult" food?

 

[Katy]

How many chicks are you feeding? How old are they? And what kind? If you put the feeder at their shoulder level they'll waste less feed.

 

[debilorrah]

I have 16 chicks and we are halfway through a 50 lb bag after two weeks.

 

[sparkles2307]

108 eating 50 lbs a week here...

 

[WalkingWolf]

I go through 100lbs of food a week.

 

[BellLisamo]

Quote:
wait wait! chicks ? or older birds?

 

[Karrie13]

I am on my second 50 lb bag... Have 6 chicks from May 1 and 12 more on May 19th!

 

[sparkles2307]

Quote:
wait wait! chicks ? or older birds?

Sorry its 112!

104 3 week old roo chicks

5 month old bantys

3 3 week old ducklings.

I did the math, its like, only half a pound each per week...

 

[Hatrick]

Sorry, I guess numbers would help. I only have four Barred Rock chicks, they're almost 4 weeks old. So that's like...a lot of food. (My math skills were released from my brain when I had children.)

Oh and to offshoot this thread (sorry...

) Um, we handle them quite often (we have three kids) and yet they still run from us when we go to pick them up. Should we be handling more, offering more treats?

 

[Akane]

A 10lb bag in a week for a few standard chicks... That's not really excessive. They are probably wasting several pounds of that but my first 6bantam chicks emptied their 10lb bag in about the same amount of time. Just get a 50lb bag. There's no reason not to and the silly little bags cost nearly as much. I thought it would be a good idea for a few bantam chicks but really it's not considering how much feed they go through. They can waste twice as much and you'll still come out spending less. Some people even just fill the brooder with chick starter as bedding so the chicks can eat whatever they want. No feeders or spilled feed and no ingesting pine shavings or other inedible bedding. Does result in a lot more waste but when you're buying 50lb bags it will only take 1 before you move chicks out of the brooder.