Feed consumption

LabMomma

Songster
Dec 2, 2021
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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!
 
We have twelve 9 month old laying pullets and one 10wk old pullet. It's taken about two and a half months to go through a 35lb bag of later pellets and a 35lb bag of start/grow crumble. We do give them a cup of scratch a day and some wheat grass clippings.

Now I'm not sure if mine aren't eating much or if yours are eating a bunch...
 
We have twelve 9 month old laying pullets and one 10wk old pullet. It's taken about two and a half months to go through a 35lb bag of later pellets and a 35lb bag of start/grow crumble. We do give them a cup of scratch a day and some wheat grass clippings.

Now I'm not sure if mine aren't eating much or if yours are eating a bunch...
Thank you!
 
I think average is about 5-6 lbs per bird, per month. Granted there's variables like breed, age, sex, and whether they are confined or free range. I have 4 bantams, one large fowl and 7 standard sizes birds. They have about a .10 of an acre to forage, I feed sprouted whole grains and grow fodder as well, in addition to growing insect larvae. I also have about 50 quail right now and I go through 80lbs of feed a month and buy a 35 lb pound of Organic whole grain about every 3-4 months. It takes more work, but it saves me a lot of money. I hope to get to a point where I can eliminate commercial feed, without nutritional deficiencies.
 
I think average is about 5-6 lbs per bird, per month. Granted there's variables like breed, age, sex, and whether they are confined or free range. I have 4 bantams, one large fowl and 7 standard sizes birds. They have about a .10 of an acre to forage, I feed sprouted whole grains and grow fodder as well, in addition to growing insect larvae. I also have about 50 quail right now and I go through 80lbs of feed a month and buy a 35 lb pound of Organic whole grain about every 3-4 months. It takes more work, but it saves me a lot of money. I hope to get to a point where I can eliminate commercial feed, without nutritional deficiencies.
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!😁
 
I estimate 100# of flock raiser every 5-6 weeks for 13 adults and 10 juveniles. I also use Nutrena all flock pellets mixed with a small amount of scratch to be able to give them treats more freely. I don't keep track of that at all. They also get free time for a couple hours a day 5-6 days a week.
 
An average size (whatever that is) laying hen (assume around 200 to 250 eggs a year) requires 100grams (3 ounces) to 120 grams of commercial feed a day assuming that no other foodstuffs are given, or foraged for.
If you free range this is considerably less. I don't mean an hour of so out in a back yard by free ranging. I mean at least a couple of acres of mixed grasses and woodlands that the chickens can access from dawn to dusk.
If you take 100 grams per chicken as a baseline per day, per year which will include a winter period of not laying you won't be far out.
But, if your hens lay large eggs, 75grams (3 ounces) and above then it is reasonably obvious that this only leaves 25grams for the hen from 100 grams.
What I would suggest is you weigh the eggs and adjust the amount of feed according to the egg weight. The free rangers I know like to allow sufficient feed to provide 100grams should the hen need it working on the principle that a hen should consume half her nutrition intake for herself and half for the egg.
 

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