Figured Out How Many Cups of Feed Equals One Pound!!

[Nimueh Alene]

2018 and I just found this thread .. Great info thanks for sharing.

 

[CuriousQueen]

Not that I am aware of.
I leave old treads buried.

It is 2018 and this thread came up on a search. Thanks for the info.

 

[TheGoldenGirlz]

I just came across this. I was struggling with how much to feed, this was extremely helpful!

 

[newchickenmom33]

Oldie but goody. Thanks for sharing!

 

[RoosterThigh]

OK, so 2019 now. I had been feeding my chickens an organic no soy feed. It was expensive but they didn't go bats**t crazy over it. My supplier went out of business and I have had to start buying Nutrawise which has some organic ingredients, but I can't find anything without soy in it now.

They go crazy over this Nutra feed and walk around with their crops sticking way out. My chickens have over 3 acres to free range and all they do is eat those pellets then go sit on my deck and poop all over it because they are so full and need a siesta before refilling again. Since switching to this feed they barely go 15 feet from the house. I have 17 hens.

They can overeat on pellets. If they like their pellets better than bugs and weeds then they are not going to go eat the bugs and weeds that really do them the best good, and that we free rangers love for them to have for the best eggs. I've seen them pass on bugs and just peck some on the grass around their coop and that's it.

I have went to throwing out a handful of feed per chicken a couple of times a day and then putting their feeder down before roost. This has been working out much better and I haven't seen any chickens on my deck. But I would rather not have to think "do I need to go throw chickens some food now?" It is a hassle, especially having to work around not being home.

This info is very good to know, though. Now I can measure out how much feed a day and throw that out to them. I'm not keeping their feeder down any longer.

 

[catballou]

Hello all,
While searching the question "how much to feed adult chickens per day", we find that the answer seems to be "1/4 lb per chicken, 1/3 lb if it is a very large chicken".

I don't know about you, but the feed scoopers that I use aren't measured by the pound!!

This question has been eating at me for weeks now, SO- I finally broke out my postage scale and measuring cups, and got to weighing chicken feed. The feed I used for weighing was Dumor Grower/Finisher Crumble.

I discovered that:

• Exactly 3/4 cup = 1/4 lb. So one average size chicken should be fed 3/4 of a cup per day.
• Exactly 1 cup = 1/3 lb. So one very large chicken should be fed 1 whole cup per day.

So if I have 4 average size hens, I should be giving them 3 cups of feed per day. 8 average size hens get 6 cups per day. And so on. I'll have to see if the weight varies a lot by brand or formula, but at least now I have SOME idea of how much feed equals one pound!

Hope this information helps someone out there desperately searching for information on how much they should feed their chickens.

Jenne

Wow! My chickens are not eating even a quarter cup a day! They look great! There is feed out there 24/7. I've been doing this for 12 years and am always surprised how little they eat.

 

[catballou]

Thank you! This helps. I would love to just set out copious amounts of food and let them manage it, but I would just be encouraging the numerous critters in my area. Working out a better system, but since they keep figuring out how to tip everything over and spread it around, I would much rather give them a healthy amount than leave it laying around for other critters. Again, thank you!

I bought 2 rubber feeders with two feed sections in each one. I attached them to the wall on both sides of the coop door. Hardly any food gets wasted. They hold about 3 or 4 cups in each compartment. Never wet or tipped over either.

 

[webbysmeme]

I bought 2 rubber feeders with two feed sections in each one. I attached them to the wall on both sides of the coop door. Hardly any food gets wasted. They hold about 3 or 4 cups in each compartment. Never wet or tipped over either.

Have you tried it?

 

[webbysmeme]

My chicks have taken tto it

 

[ccoscina]

I feed my chickens 8 pints per day (pint is 2 cups) and I have only 10 chickens (Isa Browns and buckeyes, which are hybrid chickens although more like egg layers than meat birds). According to the math of 1 cup per chicken, that should be 5 pints, not 8 pints per day. I used to feed them 10 pints per day until recently because I noticed there was always tons of spilled feed they never ate and they mostly ate the treats mixed I'm. So now I'm down to 8 cups. I'm hesitant to go down much further but if they do okay with 8 pints per day. I use 1 pint Mason jars to measure my feed. Sometimes the jar isn't totally full so maybe I give them 7.5 pints per day, which is basically 15 cups.