exactly how much per chicken per day

[Maryallison77]

Use your best judgement, if you see alot leftover by the next day you are over feeding. That is what I did at 1st and now I know I feed my 20 girls 2 times a day a pitcher full!

 

[mtnhomechick]

I read that a chicken will eat approximately 85 lb. of feed per year. I did the math and mine eat at least twice that much. I feed them morning and night and never have any left over. A farmer down here told me they will eat out of boredom. I dunno. His chickens were very cramped and looked underfed to me.

I am going to stay with my program. Oh, and yes they get scraps and even some home made food like oatmeal, fruit and yogurt.

If I was doing this for profit, I might rethink it but it's more or less a hobby, although I do sell about 16 dozen eggs a week which pretty much covers feed.

 

[panner123]

What you may not know is that a chicken will waste as much feed as it eats. Last spring I helped a friend clean her coop. She used chips about six inches deep and complained of how much feed she used. I screened all the chips and there was 5 1/2 bags of pellets screened out. Those were the ones we found. When I asked her how many bags she used over the winter, she said 15. So that was at least a 1/3 of her feed bill wasted.

 

[whatsup chickenbutt]

thats kind of why Im trying to figure it out on a how much per chicken they 'should' be eating, because for one thing, Im feeding pellets, which, there are always A LOT left over, crumbles, I cant tell because they disappear, I feed them outside approx. 4 ounces per bird, and then have a feeder full inside. I guess thats about right. Plus, 4 of my birds get out and spend all day outside the chicken yard, so Ive tried to adopt the 'if you get out you dont get fed' policy, but it doesnt seem to get them back in, so I dont know if theyre getting enough.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I have a 10lb feeder that I fill up once a week for 10 hens, 1 roo and 2 guineas. My birds free-range from about noon to sundown, guineas come and go as they please.

I go through even less food during the summer when the bugs are really out and about (and when they can get into my garden!

)

 

[imtethered]

I'm also trying to figure out how much to feed my 11 Chickens and one Roo.We have Buff Wyandottes and love them! Were feeding crumbles but I waqs scraping most of them off the floor with the poop so we switched to pellets and until recently thought free feeding is best but now it seems the feeder is emptied at an increasing rate even with the switch to pellets. We used to fill the feeder every other day but now that same schedule leaves the feeder empty for part of that second day. The problem being when I clean the coop I am literally throwing away pounds of pellets mixed with the waste and we are up to about 50 lbs of pellets for 2-3 weeks of feeding. We do live in a cold climate so I want them to have enough to eat and keep warm but times being what they are I really don't want to be wasting food. Is there a good way to minimize the waste without skimping on the feed?

 

[gophert]

I started out feeding 6 oz/bird/day when they were confined. Now that they free range, they get about 3 oz/bird/day, which they often don't finish. I also give them scraps once or twice a day, but they don't eat as many of those anymore either. I don't know exactly what they are eating in my yard, but apparently it's delicious.

 

[gophert]

Oh, and I do not free feed. They get fed in the am and late pm.

 

[JodyJo]

I fill my feeder and leave it...they free range all day and get scraps....

 

[Cindy in PA]

Quote:
50 lbs of feed for 2 weeks for 12 chickens is about right if that's all they get. 12 should eat about 4 lbs./day. I normally go through at least 100 lbs. for 13 in a month.