Am I feeding too much?

[kimntep]

My 10 gals free range only in the early evenings for about 4 hours and the rest of the time they get layer pellets plus a little scratch and boss every couple of days and other scraps or treats maybe twice a week. These are readily available in their coop and yard. I try to keep their hanging feeder full, thinking they'll just eat till they get their fill. Hubs says they are pigs and will continue to eat whatever I put out and that I'm prob feeding too much (aka spending too much!) I've read lots of posts and it sounds like what I'm doing is fine, but I want them to be healthy and happy, plus give me lots of good eggs! Opinions, please!

 

[ranchhand]

Free choice feeding is best. Very, very rarely will a chicken overeat. Might want to check that they aren't wasting feed though, they do love to spill/scatter it!

 

[kimntep]

Quote:
I switched from crumbles to pellets for exactly that reason. I keep it pretty tidy in there, so I know when they are scattering. The crumbles just kept turning in to dust and I'd have to unclog the feeder every time I filled it. No such problem with pellets. When is it ok to start the littles on pellets? They are 9 weeks now.

 

[Allen095]

I personally leave food out for my chickens all the time. I have never had any problems with them and they still like to catch bugs when they can. This is what works for me, but may not be what everybody does. Growing up, we had around 10 chickens and would just feed them a large coffee can of food a day and allowed them to free range all day and they did fine also. Just my 2 cents