How can I tell when the birds have eaten all the corn?

[marjon9]

I'm new to keeping chickens. We just got 10 fairly young hens. I have a question about the feed. The feed I use is rough ground corn. But this feed has a lot of "corn dust" in it. I would say half of the ground corn in the feed bag is ground very fine, like powder. How do I tell when I need to change the feed? The chickens eat the bigger pieces first. Then my feeder is full of "corn dust." Will the hens eat some or all of that along with the larger ground corn? Or do I simply need to throw away any feed that is in a powder state. I am curious because if I throw away all the powdered corn in the feeder I will waste have the contents of the feed bag. I hope this question is clear. Thanks!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Are you feeding a corn based feed or straight corn alone? Corn alone is nutritionally insufficient.
To get the most use of feed that is to lose for consumption (powdety/dusty) feeding it as soaked or even fermented feed works

 

[junebuggena]

Corn is not a complete diet. It's a supplement for cold weather, not a main ration. You should be giving them a nutritionally complete and balanced diet.

 

[marjon9]

Here where I live in a small town in Ecuador it seems that chickens are basically fed ground corn and then a lot of trimmings of fruits and vegetables. I have been doing the same. I will look further into nutritionally complete feed. I will get whatever I need on that. My main question right now relates to what to do with the powdered corn. It is hard for me to tell when the hens are still working on a batch of feed corn, or whether they are done with the powdery stuff at the bottom of the feeder. I will try this suggestion of watering down the corn powder. Thanks