Guineafowl food requirements

[Potrack]

I have noticed, over time, that my flock of 20 adult jumbo guineas, 25 six month old guineas, and two adult chickens, appear to be consuming 500 pounds of scratch/layer feed mix every 30-40 days. Is this about right, or are they being pigs? I’ve kept guineas, in numbers up to 75, for 26+ years, but I don’t recall them consuming this much feed in the past. For all practical purposes the adult guineas are free range and the young ones are confined to a run, for now. Perhaps I am suffering from memory problems, or am becoming stingy.
Is this approximately the correct amount of feed? Or are other animals accessing my feeders? If I have a problem of that sort, there’s no evidence on my security camera, and I KNOW I don’t have a rodent problem.
Thanks for any input,suggestions,corrections and criticisms,
Stan

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Wow, that’s a lot of feed! So, 500 lb per 35 days is 14.28 lb/day. You have 47 birds, so 0.3 lb/bird/day. That’s close to the rule of thumb of 1/4 lb of feed per day... However, my 18 free ranging regular sized guineas only consume about 1/2 of a five gallon bucket full of crumbles per week, which is 5-10 lb per week. I have 51 chickens, guineas and ducks, and they consume about 75 lb of 17% CP chick starter/grower per week, or 0.21 lb/bird/day.

 

[Potrack]

Well, I thought it may be about average, but I haven’t done the math, just noticed I’m a lot lighter in the wallet these days. I buy 5 50lb bags of mash and 5 of scratch every month or 5 weeks and keep it in front of them 24/7. They seem to waste very little. 10 bags a month at around $13.00 per bag is around $130/mo, $1560/yr. I don’t spend a lot more than that in cow feed every year, and I have 16 cows. They get grass for 6 months, but still. I guess I have to accept it. I will never refer to anything that’s cheap as “chicken feed” any more though. Lol.

 

[Potrack]

Well, I thought it may be about average, but I haven’t done the math, just noticed I’m a lot lighter in the wallet these days. I buy 5 50lb bags of mash and 5 of scratch every month or 5 weeks and keep it in front of them 24/7. They seem to waste very little. 10 bags a month at around $13.00 per bag is around $130/mo, $1560/yr. I don’t spend a lot more than that in cow feed every year, and I have 16 cows. They get grass for 6 months, but still. I guess I have to accept it. I will never refer to anything that’s cheap as “chicken feed” any more though. Lol.

Wow, that’s a lot of feed! So, 500 lb per 35 days is 14.28 lb/day. You have 47 birds, so 0.3 lb/bird/day. That’s close to the rule of thumb of 1/4 lb of feed per day... However, my 18 free ranging regular sized guineas only consume about 1/2 of a five gallon bucket full of crumbles per week, which is 5-10 lb per week. I have 51 chickens, guineas and ducks, and they consume about 75 lb of 17% CP chick starter/grower per week, or 0.21 lb/bird/day.

My guineas fly out of the pen and free range as well, I keep the predators around here well fed too. Expensive hobby lol.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

My guineas fly out of the pen and free range as well, I keep the predators around here well fed too. Expensive hobby lol.

If my 18 guineas are eating 10 lb week, then that’s 0.08 lb per day. They were eating a lot more and also wasting quite a bit, until I got a toggle, on demand feeder. Since yours can also free range, I wonder if you could only provide feed in the afternoon, then remove sometime in the morning? That might encourage them to free range more, unless you have snow where you are!