do they ever stop eating

[miracle acres farm]

most of my girls are 1 and 2 year old. rhode island reds ,nh. reds and buffs. they have slowed down eating a bit. they do seem to look a lot better to me now. we are getting 12 eggs a day from them. i think thats good odds also

 

[WoodlandWoman]

That all sounds good!

 

[magikchick]

I have 30 in my flock and go thru 50lbs every 2 weeks. I feed the pellets and they free range.

 

[digitS']

You have very good forage on your range, Magikchick.

Steve

 

[texchi]

i have 120 sex links red star and oh my i can not keep the feeders full!!- 50 of them are about 6 weeks from laying and the others are laying-they will eat a 5 gallon buckets of layer in 2 hours-since it has turned cold here in illinois they seem to be eating machines- i have been giving them a 5 gallon bucket also a day of cracked corn to help hold feed cost down- does anyone think this will hurt egg production?- feed cost are killing us at this point- any suggestions??

 

[greathorse]

Feed, good feed is the cheapest thing you can do for these birds. It takes a lot of energy to produce eggs. Laying hens should get all they can eat. If conversion is a concern for you get a bunch of those little bitty Leghorns that lay like machines and dont eat a lot due to their size. I dont understand why anyone would consider rationing the amount of feed you would give to a laying chicken.

It is not unlike a good milk cow. A good dairyman looks for the cow that has the capacity to eat a lot of feed. It is the best indicator she will produce a lot of milk.
FEED EM

 

[greathorse]

by the way I have a hard time beleiving the nearly a pound of day per chicken that started this thread. There is something besides chickens eating this stuff. Or the chickens are wasting a lot. 3 oz per day is a lot closer to average

 

[Linda in San Diego]

I have a Delightful Dozen pullets - I bought 50 lbs of organic pellet back at the beginning of September, we are only a little under 1/2 way through. The DD free range in the yard most of the day and I even seem to have a gopher coming into the run...more on that later...but we are not going through feed like you are. You seem to be using a LOT more than me though you are only 2xs as numerous. Not sure what is happening - but I think there might be something else eating the feed....