Last Spring I bought 5 Buff Orpington's at 3 days old and because of weather they were inside for 10 weeks, where I could keep their food dish always full. Over the last few weeks I have bought 10 chicks and because of nice weather, they are already outside in their new coop (a separate coop from the big birds). Because of my job and such, I am only capable of feeding them twice a day, so I need to make sure that what I'm feeding them at those two times, is adequate. Obviously this year, I have 10 instead of the 5 I had last spring, so I would normally just double the food, but I never kept track of how much I fed the 5, since I tried to just always keep it full. Any suggestion on how much to feed them twice a day would be appreciated. The birds I have are all roughly 6 weeks old and are: 2 Buffs, 2 Bantams, 2 Barred Rocks and 4 Road Island Reds. Thanks!
Hey KalChickenCrew It really depends on the gender, the breed, age, and whether the hens are laying or not. A hen that is laying (or not) can live off 4 ounces a day and still be very healthy and produce eggs. A chick doesn't particularily eat a alot of food but it still depends on the breed, I would keep their feeder full until they are two months old. A rooster needs to eat a lot more than the hen I suggest giving him about 8 - 10 ounces a day. I've never raised the kinds of chickens you have but if you google it you'll be able to find out. Also I would give them some corn or some other type of vegetable. I hope this helped a bit.
