Feed management woes

[LizzzyJo]

I’d love to ration, but I can’t. I have to free feed. I have a mixed flock and the banties have to wait for their food until the big girls are done. I give them little baby piles of food to snack on, but the big girls get those too. After about a half hour the big girls get far enough to the other side of the property for the banties to eat happily for the rest of the day. The banties are more homebodies and like to stay near the run. I could play around with different levels of feeders, etc, but I’m not sure it’d be worth it.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Banties can be a problem. Too light for a proper treadle feeder and too short of a reach as well. And those that don't provide free choice feed are not doing the best for their flock in my opinion. If you do go with a treadle feeder be sure it has a soft close feature because those little rascals will step up inside the treadle area and feed while another hen is eating. They are quick but having a soft close slowing down the slam of the lid is the safest way to go about accommodating banties. Also block off the side approaches with gallon jugs of water or concrete hollow blocks so the banties have to come straight in. This is a good idea even for medium and large hens.

 

[MagistraTn]

Why on earth, in todays day and age with propaganda flying every which way, would someone trust the manufactures label? How confident are you in the label on your chicken feed? How about the food you and your family eat? What about your vitamin supplements? What about your vainations? Do you know what fluoride does to your pineal gland? Do you know what maltodextrin does to a chooks digestion? How important are these questions to you? Do you care about the truth, or are you like Cypher, and just want to go back to sleep?

 

[Brooks_]

How confident are you in the label on your chicken feed?

I am confident that it is better than what I could make for them.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I'm just glad we have social media to tell us all the things experts are wrong about.

 

[BlackberryFarmer]

I free range a large mixed flock (90) of layers, silkies, chicks and guineas. The silkies and guineas and chicks need a higher protein so I mix all my feed together and throw a scoop out morning and night. Equal parts of Game, Layer and Chick feed. I have one feeder that they can use but so far is seems to work. Can too much protein become a problem? Only one chicken seem to be overweight, a copper Maran and she was having some messy butt issues, giving her some treatment now to get it under control?

 

[NatJ]

I free range a large mixed flock (90) of layers, silkies, chicks and guineas. The silkies and guineas and chicks need a higher protein so I mix all my feed together and throw a scoop out morning and night. Equal parts of Game, Layer and Chick feed.

If they all seem to be doing fine, there is no need to change anything.

But personally, I would not mix it all together, because there's no way the birds are going to each pick out the "right" food. I would probably just use one food (probably the chick starter). The only special thing about Layer feed is the amount of calcium. If you provide calcium separately (like a dish of oyster shell), the layers can be just fine eating the same food that is right for the chicks.

Can too much protein become a problem?

In theory, yes too much protein can be a problem.

In practice, it should not be a problem in your situation. The studies that found problems with high protein were using much higher levels than any commercial chicken food has. Even the game bird feed should be within the safe range for all chickens.

 

[jag6847]

Hello BYC!
After doing some calculations, I discovered that we have been giving the flock a little too much food. I am aware that you can’t really overfeed chickens, but keeping the rising feed costs in mind, I’ve figured that it’s best to not be giving too much extra.

I have 31 birds, and after doing the math, I need to be giving them about two scoops of feed per day. (About 16 cups)

The way I’ve usually gone about feeding them is to give them their feed in the morning, for them to eat throughout the day, however, the birds have gotten increasingly ravenous in the mornings. They act like they haven’t seen food in years! They act so crazy it’s almost impossible to get inside the coop with all of them stampeding at your feet.

This would leave me believing that maybe I should try ‘free-feeding’. I had read that chickens like when you have food constantly available for them, they feel more comfortable knowing that they can get food when they want. So, I put about a five gallon bucket worth of feed in their gravity feeder, which lasted about two days, they weren’t nearly as crazy the next morning, so that was a win. But after measuring the feed out, that was five days worth of feed that they went through in only two. As a test, I measured out two days worth of food into their feeder. This was before I put them to bed in the evening. The next morning they had eaten it all…

So, I’m back to feeding measured amounts in the morning, but I can’t figure out how to best work this. How do you all feed large flocks??

I’m stumped..

I have 28 chickens. They free eat from a feeder that can hold 50 lbs of Dumar layer pellets. I supplement with cracked corn or sun flower seeds for fat during colder weather But they eat at will. They typically eat 50 lbs in four days before I have to reload the feeder. I get good eggs results this way. Also doing the math it comes out to 2 pounds over 4 days for each bird which I do not believe is to little or too much. I think feeding your birds at free will is the best. When they run out of food they act the same way as yours and my egg production drops down. Which is logical when one ponders on it. Hope this helps

 

[passaflora]

Hello BYC!
After doing some calculations, I discovered that we have been giving the flock a little too much food. I am aware that you can’t really overfeed chickens, but keeping the rising feed costs in mind, I’ve figured that it’s best to not be giving too much extra.

I have 31 birds, and after doing the math, I need to be giving them about two scoops of feed per day. (About 16 cups)

The way I’ve usually gone about feeding them is to give them their feed in the morning, for them to eat throughout the day, however, the birds have gotten increasingly ravenous in the mornings. They act like they haven’t seen food in years! They act so crazy it’s almost impossible to get inside the coop with all of them stampeding at your feet.

This would leave me believing that maybe I should try ‘free-feeding’. I had read that chickens like when you have food constantly available for them, they feel more comfortable knowing that they can get food when they want. So, I put about a five gallon bucket worth of feed in their gravity feeder, which lasted about two days, they weren’t nearly as crazy the next morning, so that was a win. But after measuring the feed out, that was five days worth of feed that they went through in only two. As a test, I measured out two days worth of food into their feeder. This was before I put them to bed in the evening. The next morning they had eaten it all…

So, I’m back to feeding measured amounts in the morning, but I can’t figure out how to best work this. How do you all feed large flocks??

I’m stumped..

When it's cold outside the chickens are going to require more feed to warm themselves. Also when switching to free feeding your chickens are still on the mindset that they have to eat everything now because it will be gone latter. they will learn that there will always be food after awhile and will begin eating the more normal amount. This principle applies to just about any animal, cats, dogs horses etc.

 

[RDchicken99]

Are you absolutely sure you don't have a rodent problem? They say if you see one you have a hundred. No signs of entry, poop, urine, tunnels?

Here’s an update, all!
I cleaned the coop out last week and found that we do in fact have a rodent problem.

The mice had remained undetected due to the deep bedding we had in the coop for winter. They were able to live snug and happy in a foot of cozy bedding! I’m going to set up traps and will have kittens that’ll go in a barn once it’s consistently warm out. Hopefully they’ll help with keeping the mice deterred.