Can you over feed?

[wachicklady]

Most chickens won't overeat from their balanced pellet/crumble when free-fed.

They may imbalance their diet if offered more than a very small quantity of fatty or empty-carb treats by eating those instead of a nutritious feed.

Thank you!

 

[wachicklady]

As everyone has said, short of feeding too many treats the birds will do fine with pellets or crumbles available 24/7. The problem with too many treats is that your egg production might suffer as the commercial feed is balanced for growing or egg production and the treats are going to be a lot more tasty than the commercial feed. A quarter pound of feed per day per laying hen is a good average. Ignore the roosters if there are any as they eat little.

Thank you!

 

[wachicklady]

Depending on the breed of chickens and the kind of feed offered, you sure can overfeed, as some breeds (dual purpose or meat birds) tend to stuff themselves silly if given the opportunity.

Thank you so much for your reply.

 

[wachicklady]

Egg count sounds right to me. The hens do slow down egg production as they age.
From Purinamills.com.View attachment 2815126
During summer heat they can lay less because they eat less feed.
I keep up egg production by giving them a treat of wet mash made with cold water and chicken feed when temps go above 80 F.
I give a quarter cup of feed per chicken before adding water and add an equal amount of cold water and serve in a shady spot early afternoon. View attachment 2815136
I replace a treat of Scratch Grains with the wet mash during summer heat.
Try replacing the mealworms with a wet mash.
GC

This is super helpful. Thank you. Never thought of doing this, next summer for sure.

 

[Fallenone05]

I'm not sure how hot it is where you are, but in Oklahoma, it's reaching about 99F every single day, with a heat index of about 105F, and my chickens have really slowed down in the heat.

Weather affects your chickens just as much as their feed intake does. If it's been sunny and hot, fewer eggs. Rainy and overcast, fewer eggs. I went from getting eggs from all 6 of my girls to getting, on average, 2 a day once the heat moved in.

Yesterday I got a single, tiny egg from a new layer.