Correct Way to Feed Chickens

[TinyT]

Is it better to feed the chickens fresh feed from a storage bucket every day or is it okay to use a feeder? I have read many different opinions on this matter. I want to do what is best for the chickens.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I don’t think there is one “correct” way to do anything with chickens. Lots of times you will end up doing what works for you. When it comes to food it depends on how much your birds eat, your climate, your coop and run setup.

When I lived in Utah it was a dry climate. I topped off the feeder every morning and brought it in with whatever leftovers were in it at night to keep rats and cockroaches out of it. I fed dry crumble or pellets.

Now I live in the south so I don’t do any of these things. I feed my chickens dry crumble in a trough attached to their run and every few days they might get some fermented feed. I free range all day so they don’t have leftovers and I leave the troughs out and refill them in the morning.

With any feeder you will need to clean it and the problem I had in Utah if I didn’t have the feeder under a roof of some kind when it rained the feed would get wet and I would have to disassemble it to clean it. The troughs are much easier to clean.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Good advice so far.

A lot depends upon the time you have available and if you can keep a strict schedule. Some are retired and don't mind being up every day at daylight to feed the hens and to remove the feed at night. Just starting off you aren't likely to have a rodent problem so you can get away with leaving feed out all day.

The flock does best with feed available 24/7 or at least all daylight/lighted coop hours. They will self regulate on the feed, won't overeat like a horse will.

A good feeder does save a good amount of feed from waste, keeps the feed dry even if used outside, keeps the wild birds out as well as the rodents and squirrels. You can visit the coop on your own schedule and leave for a week without worrying about feeding the hens.

But, you don't need a feeder until you need one. Track your feed consumption, one quarter pound per hen per day, ignore a rooster or two unless you have a lot of them as they eat very little. If you see your feed consumption going over a quarter pound per day then you need a good feeder to stop the feed theft. When you get to that point, first advice is to stay off Amazon. A seller loses 35% right off the top with selling fees and subsidized shipping including shipping product all over the U.S. to the warehouses. Then the return policies are so liberal that another 10% of the selling price will evaporate, one returned feeder will cost enough to wipe out the profit on the next ten to twelve feeders. As a result, the only products you will find on Amazon are the Chinese made ones where they have huge markups.

Dig around online and find an independent manufacture who is more likely to have a solid product sold at a reasonable price. And read those negative reviews very carefully and do not ignore their advice. Lots of feeders get good reviews simply because there isn't a rodent or wild bird infestation yet to test the feeder. Lots more reviews are fake or the product are given away in return for a review.

So, try to keep the feed in front of the hens during all daylight or lighted coop hours. How you do that is up to you and inline with the challenges from weather or vermin. Keep your bulk feed in metal drums with tight lids and clean up any pathways that rodents can use to travel around the coop so that natural predators can have a shot at limiting their numbers.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[theoldchick]

Where I live, feed kept in feeders will get moldy. So I store my feed in the original bag inside a garbage can with a tight lid. I feed my birds twice daily all they will eat in 10 minutes by tossing the feed on the ground.

 

[TheChickenGirl16]

This is the feeder I use:

You can find the metal can at Tractor Supply or Walmart..
You can also use an outdoor tote, or plastic bucket. I have a plastic bucket with oyster and egg shell.
The ports will be on Amazon. The ports always come with a holesaw that matches.
This feeder can actually hold like three bags of feed, but I usually only use one bag at a time to be sure that they eat all of the old feed before they get new feed.
There are convenient little plugs to cover the ports at night.


EDIT: Sorry, I don’t know what that weird red line is!

 

[SnackMeat]

The issue with large food containers is it can be easy to keep piling on new food on top of old. You have to at least occasionally get to the bottom, and empty and disinfect it because of condensation or bugs.

Feeders are the same way (and I am bad about this.) if you have the money it's best to have two sets: one you can feed in and then rotate the clean one, and clean at your leisure.

But in a more lighthearted tone, reading solely the title, most of my chickens would be of the opinion that hand fed and on command are the best way, especially if I can hold them and block other freeloaders from hogging all the good stuff.

 

[RubelliteRose]

Welcome to BYC!

I don’t think there is one “correct” way to do anything with chickens. Lots of times you will end up doing what works for you. When it comes to food it depends on how much your birds eat, your climate, your coop and run setup.

This is the answer. In addition, you may have to try a few different setups until you find what works best for you and your flock.
We finally settled on using several smaller gravity feeders(because food bullies can only guard one at a time) that are placed into rubber feed pans (because my flock is messy and the food on the ground was attracting mice). At the end of the day, I pour the food from the feed pan back into the feeder and the feeders go into a rubbermaid tote on our back porch with a heavy concrete block on the lid to keep the raccoons out. In the morning, I add enough food so that most of the food is consumed throughout the day. The large bag of food is kept in the house because even in a sealed trash can we were getting mold within a week during the summer when stored on the porch. After using one or two large bags, I make mash out of all the accumulated food dust in the feeders and clean the feeders.

But in a more lighthearted tone, reading solely the title, most of my chickens would be of the opinion that hand fed and on command are the best way, especially if I can hold them and block other freeloaders from hogging all the good stuff.

This would be my flocks preferred method of being fed as well

 

[BDutch]

Is it better to feed the chickens fresh feed from a storage bucket every day or is it okay to use a feeder? I have read many different opinions on this matter. I want to do what is best for the chickens.

Both is possible.
Really fresh is hardly possible, wet feed or fermented feed is. It’s best to give such daily freshly made.

In a gravity container you can only supply dry feed,. Handy bc the chickens have always access to food that way. (if you are sure you have no mice/rats or use a good treadle feeder)

Store bought food is never really fresh. In general you shouldn’t go (far) beyond the expiring day on the bag for reasonable fresh feed. Freshly packed feed has a nice smell. But most shops have feed in the shops several weeks before all is sold from the last delivery. In general its best to consume it before its 3 months old.

Vitamins vanish. Give your hens some fresh herbs/grasses and fruits scattered in the run or in several bowls (hens) or give these to the rooster let him be a gentleman and to avoid quarrelling.