Chickens Eating Too Much?

[tamtolmie]

So I'm fairly new to the whole thing but I'm always looking everything up to make sure my chickens are always happy and comfortable. I know that layer hens will not overeat their feed but I have 26 hens and a 50lb bag of 18% crumbles barely lasts 2 weeks, I feed them early in the morning and by 10AM their food containers will be empty so I feed them again and they'll act like they've been starving for months! They are not fat by any stretch but they are fairly big chickens and they lay jumbo eggs. They have A LOT of space to wander and graze so that's not a problem either. I just want to make sure I'm not somehow feeding them too much?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

What sort of feeder are you using? It is quite likely that a lot of your feed is being lost to waste rather than being consumed.

 

[tamtolmie]

Could you expound on that? I have a few troughs (they are not huge ones) that I put their food in, I check on them and their food several times a day and I've watched them eating basically all of the food I fed them in a short time (I like to hang out with them). I feed them at least 1/4 pound per bird throughout the day with bigger portions in the morning and afternoon and a smaller one in the evening. I don't believe there's anything getting to their food either.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Trough style feeders are very good for allowing waste by billing (scooping feed out with the beak) and, if accessible for it, scratching/kicking out of feed. Are the feeders in the coop or run? What sort of substrate or flooring is under them? Are the troughs situated such that the birds can climb in/on them? (sometimes troughs are mounted outside a wire barrier so the birds must reach through the wire with just their heads to get to the feed) Are you using pellets, crumble or mash? is it being fed wet or dry? Are the troughs set directly at ground level or are they elevated - if elevated, to what height?

 

[centrarchid]

A flock of 26 hens could come close to eating that much feed. Especially if the free-range forage provides very little which is easy to realize with larger flocks on ground that is at best mowed grass. I would have to know more about forage base.

 

[GC-Raptor]

So I'm fairly new to the whole thing but I'm always looking everything up to make sure my chickens are always happy and comfortable. I know that layer hens will not overeat their feed but I have 26 hens and a 50lb bag of 18% crumbles barely lasts 2 weeks, I feed them early in the morning and by 10AM their food containers will be empty so I feed them again and they'll act like they've been starving for months! They are not fat by any stretch but they are fairly big chickens and they lay jumbo eggs. They have A LOT of space to wander and graze so that's not a problem either. I just want to make sure I'm not somehow feeding them too much?

That's less than a pound a week per foraging hen, in the summer. In the winter months if you get frost, where you live. That 50# bag will only last 1 week, with 26 hens. GC

 

[tamtolmie]

A flock of 26 hens could come close to eating that much feed. Especially if the free-range forage provides very little which is easy to realize with larger flocks on ground that is at best mowed grass. I would have to know more about forage base.

Thanks for your reply, the grass in their run is not mowed and has never really been touched by anything until we got the chickens, there's lots of dandelion greens and bugs under the trees in the shady areas they have access to etc. It looks pretty much like this picture:

 

[tamtolmie]

Trough style feeders are very good for allowing waste by billing (scooping feed out with the beak) and, if accessible for it, scratching/kicking out of feed. Are the feeders in the coop or run? What sort of substrate or flooring is under them? Are the troughs situated such that the birds can climb in/on them? (sometimes troughs are mounted outside a wire barrier so the birds must reach through the wire with just their heads to get to the feed) Are you using pellets, crumble or mash? is it being fed wet or dry? Are the troughs set directly at ground level or are they elevated - if elevated, to what height?

Thank you, I see what you mean. The troughs are not elevated, they are in the run near the coop and there's no wire barrier, they could easily climb on them if they wanted to, but they don't seem to whenever I'm around at least, I buy crumbles and I make them into a mush for them, I do notice some of it gets on the ground, but whenever I check the ground the mush seems to be gone from it, but maybe I'm just not seeing it.

 

[centrarchid]

Looks good from a distance. I walk through and look for abundance insects dispersing from my footsteps. A lot of the insect forages consumed do originate on ground birds actually forage, rather it is a combination of immigration and drift that replenishes what the birds consume. Quality of surrounding ground also important.

 

[sourland]

That's pretty normal feed consumption for that many birds. Consumption will increase as forage decreases.