All our birds from day old to adults have feed available 24 hours a day. You will have a hundred people give you a hundred different answers to this question. It is what works best for you and your situation. A chicken will only eat what it needs to to be full. If you are free ranging them at all then that will suppliment their feed. At this age they are growing remarkably fast and need all the nutrients they can get. If you cut back their feed then they will only take longer to fill out and grow to normal body weight. This is a common practice with broiler chickens. Broiler chickens are bred to grow very rapidly and consume huge amounts of food because of it. You can regulate their feed intake and therefore regulate the rate of growth. Some breeds are more feed thrifty then others especially in the teen and young adult stage. A production layer will consume more feed than a mixed breed barnyard chicken.
Thanks john
