feeding ?

[chickabator]

okay I have 2 brooder boxes of jumbo brown coturnix how much should they be eating there are 30 something in each box right now they are eating about a quart of feed 2x a day does that sound right or is it too much. they are a week old

 

[byoung14ever]

Sounds like a lot of feed to me. I have 50 at 1 week and they eat about half a quart jar a day. I have plywood under feeder to catch what they drop. They waste a lot if you have shavings in the brooder .

 

[chickabator]

I have towels in the bottom of my brooder they dont waste it there is not a crumb left. we are grinding it very fine do you think we are grinding it too small? and they cant fill there stomaches up on it or maybe not enough protein it is suppose to be 28%

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Sounds like the grinding, when you grind it down it does go down in volume. How old are they? we only grind if needed and for the first week or so. It depends on the feed, we get some bags they can eat it right out of the bag and others is ground very course.

Steve in NC

 

[byoung14ever]

I dont grind mine but others do. I would let them eat what they want then I just wanted to be sure they were not wasting your money!! My feed is only 20% protein I dont think that is it, they may just be good eaters. I do give mine worms,veggies and some bugs now and then and may be why mine use less feed.

 

[chickabator]

there is no way they can eat this without it being ground up. I was told to grind it to the size of corn meal so we did and they won't stop eating it and you talking about pooping these little buggers I cleaned their brooder out last night about midnight this morning it is plum full again. is there anyway I can move them outside to their pen? it has 1/2 inch mesh on the floor it is working me to death keeping them fed and cleaning the brooder box. It is about 95 here and at night about 75

 

[laputa]

I am in similar situation, I ground my feed to corn meal size, and the chick eats a lot, and poop everywhere, and that is just one chick... nevertheless I enjoyed watching her eating. I do put a paper towl right beneath the feeding dish, so I could recycle the feed after she splashed them all over.

 

[chickabator]

I have 80 of them in different brooders this is getting to be too much poop! everyone told me they didn't eat that much well I beg to differ we have already gone through over a 1/4 of a 50 lb bag of feed in a week!!!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

They don't need it ground up that fine at a week now, don't grind it as much. Take it to the point where they still eat it. A week old is to young for the outside. daytime temps are ok but to chilly at night. 1/2 inch hardware cloth is to big for the little guys, most that use wire to brood them use smaller, 1/4 inch. We use sand, it makes cleaning easier.

Steve