How many feeders and waters?

[NatJ]

That is too many feeders. One feeder for every ten to fifteen birds. You might have a traffic jam in the morning after coming down off the roost but the rest of the day they kind of graze on the feed. And someone has already mentioned the quarter pound of feed per day so at that point it is how many days of feed do you want on hand in case you go on a trip?

One feeder for a certain number of birds: depends on the feeder. Some feeders let only one bird eat at a time, others let dozens or hundreds eat at once. Some feeders are just little cups hung on the cage (holds 1/4 pound of food, enough for one bird), while other feeders hold 10 pounds, or 100 pounds, or various other amounts.

OP has not stated what kind of "feeder" is being used.

Too many feeders: is that a problem? If OP is willing to fill the feeders, and if the feeders do not take away space that's needed for other things, then it should be fine.

Also, small numbers can change the arithmetic. If 1 feeder is enough for 10 hens, you don't feed a single hen from 0 feeders (1/10, rounded down.)

 

[Al Gerhart]

I think that it would be pretty obvious to most that I estimated the amount of feed per bird per day. Don't you think that would cover the size of feeder? And even on a feeder that will feed one bird at a time bird spend a fraction of their time actually eating at a feeder, ten minutes a day at the most. so yes, regardless of how many birds can eat at a time a single feeder THAT STORES ENOUGH FOOD FOR YOUR FLOCK THE NUMBER OF DAYS YOU WISH TO HAVE AVAILABLE will cover ten to fifteen birds.

Do the math, one bird ten minutes of feeder use, 100 to 150 minutes of feeder per day, just over an hour and a half to two and a half hours. Don't think that birds are going to starve much less argue with you over this issue. At worst in the morning the lowest bird on the pecking order will get to eat 20 minutes after the first.

And I think you underestimate the readers on BYC. None that I have interacted with so far are stupid enough to believe that if one feeder could feed ten hens they could put no feeders in and fed five hens. Nor do I think someone is going to saw a feeder in half to feed five birds or saw twenty birds in half so they can put half of each bird in the coop and feed twenty birds with one feeder. But if you do try that NatJ be sure and use the front half of the chickens and not the back halves, okay?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Too many feeders: is that a problem? If OP is willing to fill the feeders, and if the feeders do not take away space that's needed for other things, then it should be fine.

Well I like having a lot of feeders (technically 1 feeder, multiple smaller bowls). The chickens swirl around in the morning going from bowl to bowl and more bowls means a lot less bickering over individual bowls. They polish off the bowls within the first hour and the rest of the day can pick at the feeder if they want to. Feeder only needs to be filled once a week. This current set up has also eliminated the rodent and mold issues I had before, as dry food stays dry and wet food is consumed long before it attracts pests.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Nothing wrong with that, but you only have one feeder for all those birds which is the point that I was trying to make. Many treat bowls make sense and avoids mayhem. But bowls are bowls and feeders are feeders.

 

[NatJ]

And I think you underestimate the readers on BYC. None that I have interacted with so far are stupid enough to believe that if one feeder could feed ten hens they could put no feeders in and fed five hens. Nor do I think someone is going to saw a feeder in half to feed five birds or saw twenty birds in half so they can put half of each bird in the coop and feed twenty birds with one feeder. But if you do try that NatJ be sure and use the front half of the chickens and not the back halves, okay?

I know it was a stupid example--that was my point.

Numbers and rules of thumb tend to have problems when dealing with small numbers of chickens. ("Small numbers" being less than about 25-50 chickens, in this case.)

even on a feeder that will feed one bird at a time bird spend a fraction of their time actually eating at a feeder, ten minutes a day at the most.

Except that some birds hang out by the feeder and chase other birds away. It's not just a matter of how many minutes to eat, and then politely move aside for the next bird.