Do Chickens Over Eat?

[chicksofclaridon]

Hey all,

I've been trying to figure out if my hens are over eating, and I keep seeing "chickens don't over eat, so don't worry about giving them too much food"... The majority of resources I've come across say a laying hen should eat around 1/2 cup of food a day. I have 6 girls, almost a year old, so that should equal about 3 cups a day. I feed crumbles and have one feeder. I try to keep it pretty full, to be safe, but lately I realize I'm filling it with (lord hammercy!) 8+ cups and they are eating the majority of that each day!!! They don't seem to be overweight, from my novice judgement. The run where the food is kept is enclosed with chicken wire, and roofed, so not much other than a mouse gets in there to pick at their food. There is minimal waste. So what gives?! Are they over eating? Do chickens do that? They get to free range most days for about 2 hours a day and they get cabbage and blueberries on occasion. Should I limit the amount of food to the ~3 cups? I don't want them to go hungry if they gobble it all up early on in the day, but I also don't want them to have health issues if they actually are gaining too much weight.

Thanks in advance!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have always provided a ration free choice. Chickens can stuff themselves but generally don't overeat the way us humans do.

When my feed starts going faster than usual than generally I suspect other critters are helping themselves. Wild bird, mice, and rats are the main culprit. Squirrels, chipmunk, possums, and skunks are others that like feed. So I would do some good looking around, or watching from afar to see if you see anything.

Chickens are also good at billing out feed than scratching it away. So watch if that is happening too.

 

[Wezdin]

what breed are your chickens? as for overeating the only time mine will is if i feed too many treats. i agree with oldhen, i would suspect an outside source.

 

[ChickenGirl555]

I usually have food available 24/7 but if I notice their crops are extra large, I might take it away until they go down. But this usually only happens with chicks since they're usually bored and eating is the only 'activity' to do.

 

[chicksofclaridon]

what breed are your chickens? as for overeating the only time mine will is if i feed too many treats. i agree with oldhen, i would suspect an outside source.

2 White Leghorns, 2 Ameraucana and 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes. The Wyandottes are pretty heavy but they always have been, they just seem to be bigger in general than the others, especially the Leg Horns.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

2 White Leghorns, 2 Ameraucana and 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes. The Wyandottes are pretty heavy but they always have been, they just seem to be bigger in general than the others, especially the Leg Horns.

Leghorns are a light breed so they weight less, generally 4-5 pounds. Wyandotte are a dual purpose breed, so they weigh are 7-9 pounds.

 

[Wezdin]

yeah, i would recommend putting the feed away at night and seeing if that makes any difference.

 

[chicksofclaridon]

yeah, i would recommend putting the feed away at night and seeing if that makes any difference.

I’ll give it a try. I know mice can get in but there aren’t any rats and nothing bigger could get in there! I feel like it would take a lot of mice to make that much food disappear but who knows. Thank you!

 

[Cindy in PA]

The 1/2 cup depends on how much that amount of feed weighs. Most estimates are 1/4-1/3 of a pound per bird, so you may or may not be feeding the right amount.

 

[Timothy Menezes]

With feed being $15 for 50 lbs, or $18 a bag for 40 lbs for something special, I never worried about it. My Wyandotte hens were pretty big girls that could eat big, and didn't even lay that well. They made delicious soup though

Now I just have leghorns (Silver, brown, and white variates), Rhode Island Reds, Sex links, and a few mixed birds that hatched out.

They put away a bag of feed just fast enough that I don't worry about it going stale, but not fast enough to get expensive. They did go through it allot faster when I stopped free ranging for awhile in the fall when the coyotes started coming around. Shot a few, and they stopped coming around. So back to free ranging