automatic feeder

[bully]

hi all

i'm an engineering atudent tasked with designing a fully programable chicken feeder. the device should automatically feed the animals twice a day, and must function without human intervention for a week, so it must also store the required amount of food for a week.

ideally, i'd like to design a device to be used on an intensive chicken farm. but i have no knowledge about chicken farming at all. hopefully you could answer a few questions of mine.

how much does a chicken eat per day, and what sort of numbers are there on an intensive chicken farm. also, what exactly are these chickens fed?

any advice would be greatly appreciated.
thank you.

 

[KDK1]

If you can figure it out, perhaps you could "Capitalize" on it.

 

[galanie]

Something like 1/2 cup a day each. They usually eat pellets in the situation you describe. Sort of like fat rabbit food. Numbers in an intensive operation would be in excess of 1,000 per barn. Egg layers are done very differently from meat chickens. Layers are usually stuffed 4-5 in a 1 square foot cage, with racks and racks of cages. Growing out for meat, they are often just loose in a huge barn with the feeders running down the middle.

 

[rungirl]

how much does a chicken eat per day, and what sort of numbers are there on an intensive chicken farm. also, what exactly are these chickens fed?

You generally don't ration feed to chickens. Most of us just keep the feeder full and let them eat when they are hungry. I just keep track of how many bags of feed I need to buy per week and check the feeder level, as well as the water, when I'm out tending them. Even if you could go an entire week without filling a feeder, you likely wouldn't go without checking on everything else they need, so I don't see the point.​

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I would just go with a feeder that is always full. They will not overeat.

 

[bully]

thanks for the replies. i actually dont have a choice about keeping the feeder fool or feeding twice a day. one of the requirements is that it dispenses twice a day. in general, what would be the weight of the food a broiler would consume in a day?

thanks

 

[brahmakid11]

to lay 1 egg it takes 5 ounces of food and 24 to 26 hours

 

[galanie]

Since the OP is talking about broilers, yes, you do often ration their food. They will overeat. The project does make sense.