Food ratios

[HillTop1]

Hi, everybody I had a few questions regarding feed. Here we go:

-I am mixing my own organic feed with no soy and no corn, does that change how much they eat? Meaning if it's more nutritionally dense.

-They are free range, I raise mealworms, black soldier fly larvae, and worms. So if a chicken eats 10 ounces of food per day can I just switch out 1 ounce of grain for 1 oz of bugs? Or does it not work like that? They also eat some of our kitchen scraps and I plan to add duckweed to their diet in the spring.

- So my question in a nutshell is, how do you factor in all these variables so that I can calculate how much grain to order?

Thank you and let me know if you need any more information.

 

[Wynette]

Hi, there, WELCOME to BYC and I'm glad you have found us! This is a REALLY good question, though I am not much help to you as I do not mix my own feed. However, it seems to make sense that they would eat less food if it's more nutritionally dense; it's that way with most other critters that I have raised, so why not the same for chickens?

I would begin with the same amount that you would be using of commercial feed, because I cannot think it would be that big of a difference, however. We're talking about chickens, not horses. They don't eat much regardless!

I commend you for taking the all-natural route, too!

 

[HillTop1]

Thank you for your kind words. My line of thinking was the same but I still can't find an accurate site that says how much a free range chicken eats in a day. The closest I have come is 1/4 pound of feed per day per chicken. But when you have 25 chickens it adds up quickly and when you are new to chickens, the cost can be startling. That is part of the reason the bugs appealed to me, they eat what I would normally just throw away. Anyway, thanks for your help.