Can Chicken undereat?

[dalkeithowner]

We have four chicken (1 Bluebell, 2 Speckeldy, 1 White Sussex) for two weeks now. Amongst them they only lay .8 eggs a day which I assume is all one of them or maybe between two.

They spend the day in a run of about 5 square yards, but have pretty much now killed all vegetation so there is no remaining food source other then the feed.
I read that I should expect them to eat around 1 to 1 1/3 pounds of normal food. Yet all they manage is well less than half a pound.

Other than the standard feed, I hand feed about 20 grams of corn, mixed with grit both to gain their trust and to ensure they have grit as yet again they never touched that at all. All in all it feels well under the amount they should have.

The food is in a dry place and I take it in at night when they roost in the coop, to substitute it with 2 tiny dishes with feed - which they don't touch.

 

[chfite]

My understanding is that a chicken will eat 4 ounces of food a day. I provide feed all the time. I just keep the feeder filled.

My 10 go through 50 pounds of food every fortnight, so that is about 6.2 ounces per day. I have 9 hens and get 7 eggs a day, typically. Mine forage during the day. The eat about 10 - 15% less feed daily in the summer than in winter. So, I have some benefit from their foraging.

I doubt that chickens eat at night. They are so somnolent that would find hard to see them eating or drinking at night.

Chris