How many feeders and waters?

[CHELLYB0E]

I recently went from having 4 girls ina coop to 9 girls.
i have put in 3 waters and 3 feeders, is that enough or do I need more?

 

[NatJ]

That's probably enough.

Of course the real goal is to be sure they all get enough to eat.

If you can stand and watch a bit, you may be able to see if they all get a chance to eat and drink. (Or they may all stare back at you, in which case you cannot tell what happens if you're not there.)

Or check after dark, when they're asleep on the roost, to make sure they all have full crops. (Just feel for a squishy bulge on the front of each bird).

How many feeders is always a bit of a guessing game, because some feeders have a bigger eating area than others, and some chickens chase others away more than others.

 

[mymilliefleur]

That should be fine. Make sure to spread the feeders/waterers out to different parts of the coop to give lower birds on the pecking order more of an opportunity.

 

[PirateGirl]

Depends how big the feeders and waterers are.

 

[TooCheep]

Probably, but observe them. If the ones at the bottom of the pecking order are feeding/drinking sufficiently (do the crop check), then they are all okay.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Should be plenty. My flock doesn't fight over water at all, so one is plenty, but food is another matter. I have 3 bowls of fermented feed out in the morning for 7 birds, then once they have breakfast, a single feeder of dry food is fine for the rest of the day.

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

I recently went from having 4 girls ina coop to 9 girls.
i have put in 3 waters and 3 feeders, is that enough or do I need more?

That's quite enough ration? are you asking about the daily amount? Yeah!!! I believe that's more than enough for a day.

 

[PirateGirl]

If you are wondering how much feed they actually need, chickens on average eat a quarter pound a day, so a flock of 9 needs approximately 2.25 lbs of feed available daily.

How much water they go through can vary with weather, climate/humidity, whether or not they are laying or growing etc. Generally speaking 5 quarts will water a flock of 10 for a day, so a gallon waterer would take care of your flock of 9.

With these numbers, especially with the water, I'd err on the side of providing more, not less.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I recently went from having 4 girls ina coop to 9 girls.
i have put in 3 waters and 3 feeders, is that enough or do I need more?

I keep 18 Orpington and Brahma birds in my coop. I have a 5lb gravity feeder for cats and a 2 gal gravity waterer (also for cats) in my coop. I refill the food every 3 days in winter and once a week in warm weather. I refill the water 2x a wk regardless of season, but I keep additional water sources available around the farm.

 

[Al Gerhart]

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?