How do I know if I'm over feeding my chickens??

[Sobek]

I don't give them treats very often I'm referring to chicken feed. I feed them maybe 3 times a day and I usually just take a few handfuls of feed. I have 4 chickens. I want my girls to be healthy and live as long as they can

ALSO, they don't always finish their food. Like now they stopped eating so I put it in the refrigerator

 

[Spartan22]

I keep my feeders full all day, they can eat as much as they want. They stop when they are full. May I ask why you refrigerate their feeds? Just curious.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

I have 4 feeders for my flock of 19 and refill them as needed. I don’t measure....just fill em and leave em. My chickens have access to feed all day in their run. I have 2 heated water bowls that I have to fill daily.

 

[Sobek]

I keep my feeders full all day, they can eat as much as they want. They stop when they are full. May I ask why you refrigerate their feeds? Just curious.

One of my girls has a trimmed beak which makes it very hard for her to eat. So I wet the food and that helps her a lot. I didn't want to waste what I had made for them by leaving it out to mold or spoil

 

[Spartan22]

Some flock raisers actually soak their feeds for few days to ferment, so I don’t think refrigeration is needed. I used to wet the feeds for my few hens when I switch to pellets feeds when they were not eating it, and they consume them within 24 hours.

 

[DobieLover]

Some flock raisers actually soak their feeds for few days to ferment, so I don’t think refrigeration is needed. I used to wet the feeds for my few hens when I switch to pellets feeds when they were not eating it, and they consume them within 24 hours.

True on the fermenting.
I have fed fermented feed to my flock from day one. I do not bring it in. I give them what I think they will clean up by the time I get home from work then give them a bit more to finish filling their crops before roost time. Whatever is left in the feed trough stays out in the secure run overnight and they eat that when they come out of the coop. I then start the cycle over again. Been doing this for nearly a year without issue.

 

[Mosey2003]

If you're feeding wet mash, just put out what you think they'll eat in a day, and watch. If it's all gone before the end of the day, give more. If there's a lot left, give less. If there's just a smidgen left, that's just about right. It won't go bad in one day.

A laying hen will typically eat somewhere close to 0.25 pounds of feed per day, dry weight. If you have no clue whatsoever, you could start there. So, say you had 12 hens, you'd measure out 3lbs of feed and then wet it.