Feed consumption

[LabMomma]

Not sure if this helps or not but I have 4 hens and I go through a 25 lb bag in 2 months. Our hens free range all day but have unlimited access to their feed.

Thank you! That’s very helpful!!

 

[LabMomma]

Did someone take them or did you give them up for meat? Our silkie recently brooded some eggs and we ended up with one hen, one cross bill rooster and two large gorgeous roosters. We tried to rehire them via Facebook but that said I was doing commercial animal reading?? So I am at a loss how to regime them. They constantly pester the girls and we already had two roosters to begin with, one that lives alone because he attacked the senior rooster constantly. We have a soeeate setup for him. He is so good and quiet until he gets to that senior rooster then all he’ll breaks loose.

Have you checked Craigslist? That’s where we rehomed our four extra roosters. We found someone on Craigslist that would take them and just let them free range and live a good life and until they died naturally. That’s the kind of life I wanted them to have but I could not provide that kind of life for them. Hope this helps and good luck!!

 

[LabMomma]

Same here although In Montana. Coop's laying floor fell thru so chicks from last Spring roost with older ones on B porch. Completely Free Range. 13-16 last count I thought I wasn't feeding enough since of that count I'm lucky to get 4 eggs a day. Has Been Below 0 on & off, for a couple weeks. Above freezing y-day. Don't really Keep a count of amount of food. Layer feed, 16%, 40lb, cracked corn, 50lb, Scratch. B Oil sunflower seeds maybe 6x a year. At least 16oz of each daily. In winter, refill waterers 2-3x a day. Is it me, the quantity of feed or the weather?

How old are your hens?

 

[LabMomma]

For me it’s not just the cost of the 100 pounds ofcorn and sunflower hearts as there is also the leaf lettuce, peanuts, cheese and blueberries. I consider all leftover cat food and kitchen scraps as free. They love their hand fed bedtime snacks.
One roster four hens and a male peacock and all the neighborhoods while birds

Aww that’s awesome! I’ll spoil my neighbor’s chickens whenever they come to visit me for some treats

 

[Hannahnic14]

We go through 140lbs every 2 weeks. I have 60 chickens and 2 geese. I figured 1/4lb of feed per chicken and 1/2lb per goose. Hope that helps!!

 

[LabMomma]

We go through 140lbs every 2 weeks. I have 60 chickens and 2 geese. I figured 1/4lb of feed per chicken and 1/2lb per goose. Hope that helps!!

Thank you!

 

[the old rooster]

Hello, everyone! I just recently got rid of four extra roosters that had been in my flock. I used to have 13 chickens and would go through 2 to 2.5 bags of 50 lb. chicken feed. Now I only have nine chickens one rooster and eight hens. I’m just wondering how much feed a month I will go through now. How much food does everyone go through a month with their flock? Thank you!

Feed depends on where you live and the time of the year, a good rule is one Quarter Pound of feed for a Mature Chicken. so , 9 Chickens gives you a 2 1/4-pound daily feed load, or a 63 pounds a month. So 22 days on a 59 lb bag, so every 3 weeks more or less. keep food away from wild birds and squirrels . Good luck with your Flock.

 

[chickencoop57]

Slightly off subject, but how do you like the leghorns compared to the California Whites?

I bought the Leghorns about 2 1/2 years ago and they're still a laying good, but small compared to the California Whites. Both are good egg producers. I've even gotten some extra-large eggs from the California Whites. The Leghorns lay up to 250 eggs per year and the Whites about 300 per year. Both breeds are the only ones that haven't failed me in egg production. Right now, in our mild winter, I'm getting 12 eggs per day, from them. However, in answer to your question, I would go with the California Whites, hands down!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thank you, this was very helpful! Mine have an 11x19 run. I let them out to free range for 1-2 hours a day. They also get some scratch grains and black soldier fly larvae each day. It would be great if you didn’t have to buy commercial feed anymore! That’s a great goal!

the "thumb rule" is about 1/4# per bird, per day of a commercial ration for something like a commercial layer. That's NOT applicable to a "meatie" like a CX, and is is traditional commercial (or closely held backyard) chickens. Your ability to free range, depending on size and quality of the pasture, will have a seasonal effect - more when things are in fruit/seed/new growth - much less when dormant or preparing for dormancy. That said, with only an hour or two daily, I doubt you will see much impact, even with a very good pasture.

It is essentially impossible to maintain modern birds in peak condition without use of modern feeds - your casual mention of scratch grains and BSFL is all I need to read to have strong suggestion your are not yet nearly qualified to try to assemble a nutrtitionally complete feed without relying on a commercial supplier, and the conditions offered your birds suggests you likely do not have the resources, either. It takes a LOT of space to deliberately raise what you need to feed chickens solely from your own property, or the chickens have to be part of a balanced ecosystem, relying on waste/scrap/spillage from numerous other activities and animals. As there is no mention of cows, pigs, horses, goats, acres of plantings, etc... The old time methods assumptions are quite likely inapplicable to your circumstances (and don't support a modern bird in peak condition, anyways).

Not a dig at you in any way, simply an acknowledgement of reality - there's a lot of things not widely told to people making effort to in some way recreate some idyllic past. Welcome to BYC.

and for what its worth, my flock is in my Sig, below. Seasonally, my biodiverse polyculture saves me 15-35% on feed costs monthly (which are significant), and I am deliberate in my efforts to produce a bird well suited to free range my area. They have 24/7/365 access to the pasture and surrounding wood.

Finally, I am NOT a Vetrinarian, a trained Animal Feed specialist, involved in a collegiate-level agriculture program, or the like. Neither have I been doing this very long. I am, however, actually "doing it", and publicly posting my successes and failures along the way, with careful effort to identify conditions which make certain techniques and management methods successful (or not) which may - or may not - be applicable to others. ...and I'm developing some measure of respect around BYC on the subject of feeding chickens. I've done a LOT of reading, and learned from many others here of similar background.

Likely you will see my name a lot in the BYC feed forums. Shadrach's comments on the first page are very good, though some may read them and overestimate what can be obtained from "good pasture". This sentence "I mean at least a couple of acres of mixed grasses and woodlands that the chickens can access from dawn to dusk." by @Shadrach is not a caveat, its a minimum necessary requirement. A baseline from which supporting management methods can be developed. THEN one must be very specific in their plantings to manufacture that "good pasture".

FWIW, I feed between 11 and 14# daily for 60-70 birds, including roughly 10 ducks, seasonally dependent. The goats are fed seperately, and while their is some opportunism by both, it sort of balances out. Mostly.

 

[Sally PB]

I have 1 rooster, 3 hens, and 3 pullets. They get 20% protein organic starter/grower and the following things for treats:

Their food wetted into a mash (made warm in the winter, cool in the summer); this is their #1 treat. Everything else listed is 10% or less of what they get.
Fodder in the winter, for fresh greens
Mealworms/BOSS (about 1-2x a month)
Garden weeds/fruit and veg scraps
Japanese beetles in July/Aug
Bugs I dig up or catch in the garden

The last 3 items are the only "free" food I have for my chickens. I know there is no way I can get all the nutrients they need without purchased food. I buy organic feed because it's what DH and I want. It costs quite a bit more, but I'm ok with that.

I do not free range. Too many predators, and DH would not approve of fencing in the yard. (That area is also an access point to our wood pile, a work area for large projects, and a place for guests to park.)