Do you feed your hens by hand daily or keep a feeder full?

[edster951]

Mine are free range.

No feeder, just fed by hand 3 times a day.

We have a scoop we fill and go in with them and scatter / hand feed them.

I find when we have the feeder full, it attracts rats and sparrows.

 

[jacyjones]

Quote:
Mine are free range too and I do exactly the same - food at breakfast time, a little more in the afternoon if I am around and so are they and then more in the evening. They all come back to the run at dusk anyway to roost and I feed cos the ducks sometimes need persuading to go back in and are very greedy!!

 

[edster951]

with free range, I figure that if they have survived for millions of years like that, my supplement feed 3x a day is extra.

40kg of feed lasts a week, and I'm too chicken to experiment to see if it lasts the same if I set up a 40kg feeder.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I always make sure that the feeder is full.

 

[bigreyhorse]

Mine are only almost 4wks old, but they recognize my hand as a feed bucket, they all come running when they see it, they still try to jump in it too like they did when they were a few days old.

bigrey

 

[herbandteas]

I love it chickens on chocolate!!!!

I have noticed that with chickens, my chicks are just like that. I have a huge cage that I keep them in and I pull out one of the trays on one side so they can go for the grass and what have you on the ground. Their feeder is on the side that has a tray and keep the water on the grass side.

Helaine

 

[FarmGirl01]

All my birds free range. I just hand feed twice a day unless its really cold. As soon as they see me, they come running. Its quite a site to see all the different animals coming. Mules, goats, all kinds of birds. Its a good feeling.

 

[Nuggetsowner:)]

My chickens that are in the coops always have full feeders but still get hand fed at least once each day. Usually their treats

. The five that I let free range only get feed in their feeders once a day and then a daily treat that is hand fed!

 

[chicamama]

Thanks! I'm going to try hand scattering 2x daily while they free range all day. See if this helps getting them to come in at night quicker. Right now they are a bit gorged and are not that concerned about food when they see me coming.

 

[chicken mamma]

my df pics grass almost every day after work and takes it to his "lovely ladies" as he calls them...only problem, they've started to meet us at the door, one of them cinnamon gets a little to excited and has tried to run out of the yard a few times. We keep a feeder full of layer at all times, in the mornings DF fills the small chick feeder with the chick feed for the little ones and scatters cracked corn out so all day they are pecking and digging, making me some fine fertilizer for next season I hope