Excessive eating and cold temps?

[Lea71]

Goodmorning....I'm a bit stumped this morning. Went out to check on the girls and I noticed they have eaten almost all of their feed in two days. Normally, it lasts 5-6 days. So my question is, will chickens consume a lot more food when the temps drop? That is the only explanation I can come up with. It's been below freezing for a few days and I just thought maybe they are consuming more to keep their body temps up. I thought I might have a pesky visitor in there stealing their food but that place is as tight as fort knox. Thanks for any input.

 

[krcote]

You know, my girls do the same thing on occasion. Must be the cold

 

[Laskaland]

I have that too this week. I thought maybe because they aren't
ranging this week due to the cold they were bored and eating up (like I do!!!). They are drinking a ton too?

Glad I am not the only one with this problem. I switched feed brands too, maybe they like this feed better. It sure smells better, hahah
Christina

 

[MissPrissy]

Your avatar is just wrong on so many level. LOL

 

[L*A*G*]

what feed brand did u switch to?
Quote:

 

[L*A*G*]

prissy, did u make your own bator yourself? (i looked at your bator page)

 

[Lea71]

Okay...good...I'm not the only one. And now that I think about it, mine haven't been scratching around in the run very much...they've been spending a lot of day time in the coop. That makes sense.

That is a kooky avavtar...but I love it. Did you see the vampire teeth binky's around Halloween. If my kids would have taken binky's, I definitely would have had fun with it.

Thanks for the input.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yep, cold weather = eat ALOT more food because if temps go down 50F, bird still gotta keep body temp at 102 or so. With Newtons law of cooling and thermodynamics = eat exponentially more food as it cools.

Not to worry!

Although, if it's freezing EVERYTHING is hungry and you could have visitors too.

 

[MissPrissy]

*L*A*G* :

prissy, did u make your own bator yourself? (i looked at your bator page)

Yes, I did. Several of them.​

 

[EliteTempleton]

Give them scratch with a high concentration of corn in it, it heats them better(so the rumor goes) should reduce your feed costs.

I give them a cup near sundown to help heat them through the night.

If its REALLY cold (single digits or a temp drop that came fast) I'll give them something warm. Like oatmeal, grits, scrambled eggs, etc.

Yes mine have been drinking more water as well my guess is that they need it to process all the dry food. Much like we might have milk and cookies!