Am I feeding my birds wrong?

[Shortcowgirl]

Okay everyone I need advice! My hubby recently built me a hoop coop to move around our pasture so that my Brahmas could graze on fresh grass. I move the coop every other day so that they have a nice new patch of grass. I thought that with this new system I would go through less feed but this doesn't seem to be the case. There are only 10 birds in the coop and I am going through a 50lb sack of layer feed every two weeks along with all of the kitchen scraps I can muster up. I also provide grit and oyster shell free choice. Since putting them in the hoop coop they have started going through a lot of grit but they don't seem to want to touch the oyster shells even though some of the egg shells have been a little thin. What am I doing wrong? I know nothing else is getting to the feed because the coop is very secure with chicken wire all the way around. They do seem to be wasting a lot on the ground but how do I stop that?

Please, any advice would be much appreciated!!!

 

[Yay Chicks!]

That does seem like an excessive amount of feed to go through. Do you lock up your food at night? Do you keep it in a secure container? Rodents can easily get through chicken wire...

 

[sumi]

Little birds can also get through chicken wire, unless it's very fine. And they can eat as much, if not more than your chickens. To stop feed spillage and waste you could put the food in a feeder than they can only get their heads into, like a PVC pipe feeder. Depending on your design and set-up, this may also slow down the rodents and birds, if they are indeed helping themselves to your feed. Here are some designs and ideas:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/109158/pvc-pipe-feeder

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/704443/diy-chicken-feeder-pipe

 

[Shortcowgirl]

I do store my feed in a mouse proof feed bin and we have a lot of barn cats out there to keep mice out so I know I'm not loosing it in storage. I feed my chicken in a 5lb hanging feeder and just leave it out. Should I be bringing it in at night? I'm having to refill their feeder every other day, sometimes every day. I have full view of the coop at all times and I've never seen any small birds hanging around I do have a lot of magpies that clean up all the spilled feed after I move the coop. I've heard of rationing chickens. Just put out as much as the need for a day. Any ideas on this? How much would you put out per chicken?

 

[Shortcowgirl]

Sumi, thank you so much for those links. I think I will get the stuff today and make one to try. Hopefully that will help with the spillage

 

[Den in Penn]

Chickens LF eat between 1/4 to 1/3 pounds a day, your 10 would eat between .25 and 3.33 pounds if that is all they are eating. To feed them only what they eat in a day, start by giving them the full amount they could eat then keep reducing the amount till you have reached the point where it is cleaned up in a day. That amount is the base amount they will use in your arrangement. Now you'll have to monitor it as the quality of the forage changes with the seasons and will need to adjust the amount accordingly.

 

[centrarchid]

Birds confined to a chicken tractor can generally be expected to meet about 10% of their nutritional needs. This because not all plants are palatable or sufficiently digestible. You can improve by having more legumes in mix of plants but only to a limit. Sparing more need for your layer feed will require birds either being moved more frequently or allowed to free-range where they can "cherry-pick" a much larger area.

 

[tigerlillyfish]

I know mice go in my coop at night and eat the food, I now bring it in every night. I'm going through a bit less that way.