Feed costs???

[PetesMom]

From .3 lb to .4 lb a day for ducks, depending upon their size and .5 pound a day for geese.

Quick and dirty math, you should be feeding in the neighborhood of 3 pounds a day. A 50 bag should last slightly over 2 weeks. If there is good grass, the geese prefer grass and won't eat very much grain and your feed will last longer.

I suspect that something besides your poultry is eating your feed. Wild birds will eat a surprisingly large amount of feed. Mice and rats or squirrels and chipmunks will eat a large amount of feed..

Maybe that's where my food is going....the GD rats as the feed trough is inside the barn so wild birds and what not can't get in there. We are in the process of fencing in some area so they can go outside and freerange....I'm worried if I let them out I won't ever get them back in their pen and we have some brave coyotes that come right into the yard

 

[Red Barn Farms]

I have 13 and they eat a 50# bag $14.99 every two weeks but they also free range most days. Buff orpingtons and red stars and three bantams. Food is provided around the clock!

 

[zooweemama]

Maybe that's where my food is going....the GD rats as the feed trough is inside the barn so wild birds and what not can't get in there. We are in the process of fencing in some area so they can go outside and freerange....I'm worried if I let them out I won't ever get them back in their pen and we have some brave coyotes that come right into the yard

I started going into the pen with peas for a couple days. Then I started opening the pen gate and feeding peas and tossing them behind me- a little at a time and patiently waited for them to follow me. I started out with short walks and worked up to longer ones- walking around the coop and pen area. Now when they see me at that time, they also see the pea bag (they know what that sucker looks like now) they get excited and know what's next. If you do it every night at the same time- it's like an internal clock. It might take you a couple weeks to train them fully but you can do it. And I ONLY do peas at that time. So they REALLY look forward to it! Then you should be able to get them back in the yard at night- safe and sound.

 

[mominoz]

Also leaving feed out all day is a waste. Books say to feed .25 lb for light ducks,.3-4 for heavy ducks.5 for geese. or what they can clean up in 10 minutes a day. I used to have wild birds fly into pens if I left the feed out,and the squirrels, had mice run over my boots at feeding time (the ones the ducks don't kill.) I use a container that holds about 1/2 lb and scoop out the exact amount and a bit more. Then I figured how much each group needed weight wise and feed that and a tad more . Just make sure everyone can get to the feeder at the same time.

 

[poultry09]

From .3 lb to .4 lb a day for ducks, depending upon their size and .5 pound a day for geese.

Quick and dirty math, you should be feeding in the neighborhood of 3 pounds a day. A 50 bag should last slightly over 2 weeks. If there is good grass, the geese prefer grass and won't eat very much grain and your feed will last longer.

I suspect that something besides your poultry is eating your feed. Wild birds will eat a surprisingly large amount of feed. Mice and rats or squirrels and chipmunks will eat a large amount of feed..

So how do you sugest to keep all the wild birds out?

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

8 ducks, = 3 lbs of feed a day. 1 50lb bag of 16% layer is... umm... I wanna say $9.19

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Forgot to add the rest

so per week, a 50lb bag lasts a little under 2 and a half weeks...... That will all change though when I have my 4 geese, and when my ducklings grow out...

 

[hdowden]

between ducks and chickens i can get up to 30-40 a month. i free range a bit for both chickens and ducks

 

[Nsampsel]

Here is what I've bought so far this month for 6 ducks of various ages under 3 months & 52 chickens of various sizes, ages & breeds. No free-ranging unfortunately due to city ordinance.

2 Bags of Purina Flock Raiser aprox $16.00/50 lbs
1 Bag of Scratch Grains aprox $15.00/50 lbs
1 Bag of Broiler Mash (un-med)aprox $12.00/50 lbs (I don't have broilers but this was the cheapest & closest to what I needed where I went in a pinch when I ran out)
Total $59.00/200 lbs (plus tax)
Average per bird per month $1.02/bird & 3.8 lbs/bird per month (I know this isn't exact as the ducks eat a good bit more than the chickens, but it is the average per bird of all together)
I also cut fresh grass & give it to the birds daily & they get all kitchen scraps (they LOVE hotdogs)

And I too discovered I had other critters eating my food. My daughter would sit the ducks' water buckets & food bowl too close to the outside fence. When I would come out in the morning all buckets would be tipped over & all food missing even if we had fed right before bed. We discovered raccoons were reaching thru the wire & tipping the buckets toward the fence to have a feast. We moved the buckets & bowls to the interior fence that is against the chicken coops & problem solved. Not too worried about wild birds. My birds go after any bird who comes into their coop. And I have over a dozen cats patrolling my yard (all strays but 1) so have never seen a single mouse, rat, mole, chipmunk or anything much smaller than a cat (including baby birds) come anywhere near my coops. Feed bags are kept in the house to keep rodents & birds out of them.

 

[Oregon Blues]

So how do you sugest to keep all the wild birds out?

I feed twice a day and weigh the feed. My ducks and geese get what they will clean up. If there is no feed left out, the wild birds can't get it.

Feed left out 24 hours a day just brings in the freeloaders. You'll get mice and sparrows and they will call their friends and they will reproduce well with a reliable source of free food.

The only guys that get free fed are the Cornish Cross and I dump 50 pounds at a time into their feeders. But they are fully enclosed and nothing can get in, except for the mice and they will eat any mouse that gets inside their pen. I can't let them out because the crows kill them.