How much do they eat?

[sadies0111]

Hi, I've had laying hens for several years. I have a young batch of 6 leghorns that started laying about a month and a half ago. It seems like I go through a lot more chicken food for this batch of layers than my previous ones, which were dual purpose. I got the leghorns so they would eat less. This month they went through a 50 lb bag of layena in 2 weeks! I used to have a bag last close to a month. In the past couple months, I've tried 3 different brands to see if that would make a difference, but so far, no luck. I live in WI, so it's cold, so maybe that's affecting them, and also, I've kept light in their coop all winter, so maybe they are eating during the night? I don't know...how much do your chickens eat?

 

[Fred's Hens]

You might well be feeding the mice at night.

6 birds @ 2 pounds per day, max, is 28 pounds in two weeks. In other words, you went through almost twice the feed that 6 Leghorns would require.

 

[4 the Birds]

Hi, I've had laying hens for several years. I have a young batch of 6 leghorns that started laying about a month and a half ago. It seems like I go through a lot more chicken food for this batch of layers than my previous ones, which were dual purpose. I got the leghorns so they would eat less. This month they went through a 50 lb bag of layena in 2 weeks! I used to have a bag last close to a month. In the past couple months, I've tried 3 different brands to see if that would make a difference, but so far, no luck. I live in WI, so it's cold, so maybe that's affecting them, and also, I've kept light in their coop all winter, so maybe they are eating during the night? I don't know...how much do your chickens eat?

They are most likely roosting at night and not eating then. They will eat more during the cold months but yours seem to be eating alot! I like to add cracked corn to the feed during the Winter. I feed the pellets instead of the crumbles since there seems to be less waste.