Are they eating enough?

[aceintoledo]

I fill their troft every morning and when I close them in for the night half of the food is still there, infact, it's not even all gone by the next morning! Are they getting enough food from eating grass and bugs?

 

[chicklover16]

I think they are fine, if they are free ranging then they are getting a lot of thier food from grass and bugs, and besides that I think that eating a half of a troft of food per day is pretty average.

 

[aceintoledo]

I think they are fine, if they are free ranging then they are getting a lot of thier food from grass and bugs, and besides that I think that eating a half of a troft of food per day is pretty average.

When I say troft I should clarify that my troft is a 14x6x4 drywallers mud pan

. I have three hens who will turn 1 in three weeks, and three chicks in the house who didn't care for the loss of heat from the lack of power for an hour courtesy of mother nature. As for the free ranging, my back yard is only 60'x40', so as much free ranging as they can do in that much space. They seem happy.

 

[Den in Penn]

Weigh out the food. A LF eats 1/4 to 1/3 lbs a day. So your three should eat .75 to one lb a day. If they find anything to eat while out or they are given other food then less than that. The mud pan probably holds more then a days worth of food. Never thought of using one of those for chickens.

 

[aceintoledo]

The mud pan was only supposed to be a temporary thing but after mounting to the inside wall of the coop it actually works really well. When my chicks are ready to join the hens outside I'll install another one on another wall.

 

[triplepurpose]

Be glad they aren't eating more! Whatever you're doing it's working!