Am I Feeding Enough?

[WillJMA]

I'm just wondering whether I have very greedy birds, or whether i'm not feeding them enough?

I have 7 young Rhode Islands and two very young Aylesbury cross ducklings who i feed with pellets and corn twice a day, around 500g in a morning, and 500g around 6pm and they just inhale it, fighting to get every last piece.

That's not all, during the day they get a lot of kitchen scraps, whatever is left over gets thrown to them, and it's as if they've never been fed before the way they eat it all.

I have two laying hens, who are laying perfectly everyday (except on a Monday when they've had too much protein from the Sunday lunch leftovers).

Now do I have greedy hens? Or should i be giving them a lot more than 800g-1K a day for the 9 small-ish birds?

Thanks.

 

[junebuggena]

Growing birds should have feed available all day long. It's normal for a hen to skip a day after laying every day for nearly a week. It has nothing to do with getting a bit too much protein.

 

[WillJMA]

It has nothing to do with getting a bit too much protein.

Thanks for the reply.

It does have something to do with protein, since every time i've given them a lot of meat, the following day i've had no eggs, regardless of the day. One week they ate a lot of leftover pork over three days, and i didn't get a single egg until at least 3 days after the pork had been eaten.

I've once left them food all day long they literally got through 25 kilos in a week, which is way too expensive. Not to mention a lot of waste, and then they weren't too bothered about the leftover food throughout the day, which is of course 'free'.

Anyone have any daily guidelines of feed per bird? In terms of grams of pellets per day type thing?

By the way, they are all very healthy birds, just very greedy snatching food as soon as they get it.

 

[junebuggena]

Maybe it's your feeders that are the problem. Are they easily tipped over? Can they get their feet in and scratch everything out? It takes my flock of 12, 6 month old birds at least 2 weeks to get through 50lbs of feed. Are you feeding them grower?
As for your laying hens, giving too many treats can upset the balance of nutrients needed to keep up with egg production. The problem isn't the protein, it's that they ate too much of the 'treat' and not enough of their feed. A balanced diet is key to good production.

 

[barneveldrerman]

I agree maybe it's your feeders that's about what they should be eating a day

Hopes this helps