How much do your birds eat?

[Mtnboomer]

I am new to owning chickens. I have about 25 birds (LOL). I’d like to get a gauge of how much anyone else’s flock eats. Preferably if yours is the same size as mine. I go through a 50 lb bag of feed a week with mine and it just seems like WOW a lot. Or am I wrong? I notice a lot of waste on the floor and I’m trying different things to remedy that. Any tips for me? I have the food in a 15 lb hanging feeder I only keep about half full. Only 10 birds are adults. The other 15 are about 3 months old. Thanks!

I currently have 20 (8 free range) Brahmas. In winter, they eat about 100-130#/ month in feed plus table scraps. In warmer months i can cut that in half easily as new plants, seeds and insects return.

 

[jeansweezey]

I am new to owning chickens. I have about 25 birds (LOL). I’d like to get a gauge of how much anyone else’s flock eats. Preferably if yours is the same size as mine. I go through a 50 lb bag of feed a week with mine and it just seems like WOW a lot. Or am I wrong? I notice a lot of waste on the floor and I’m trying different things to remedy that. Any tips for me? I have the food in a 15 lb hanging feeder I only keep about half full. Only 10 birds are adults. The other 15 are about 3 months old. Thanks!

That sounds okay. I have 38 chickens and I use a 40-lb bag of pellets a week plus scratch grains, black oil sunflower seeds, and oatmeal (to keep them warm when it's cold). I use Grandpas's feeders and they are great for eliminating waste and keeping other critters from eating the feed.

 

[Chandlerharris]

I currently have 20 (8 free range) Brahmas. In winter, they eat about 100-130#/ month in feed plus table scraps. In warmer months i can cut that in half easily as new plants, seeds and insects return.

How do you decide who free ranges?

 

[Chandlerharris]

Wow, I've had up to 30 chickens at one time and never went through 50 pounds of food in a week. Even when they aren't free-ranging, they don't eat that much. They do have a very large area of grass to roam on. I give them kitchen and garden scraps, and in winter I throw scratch around to give them something to do. I find that they eat and waste the crumbled feed much more than pellets. We've got a wooden gravity feeder attached inside the coop that can be filled from the top. There is a guard across the bottom where the feed collects. It allows them to stick their heads in but they can't scratch it out with their feet. I have 20 now and I probably use 50 pounds a month during the winter and less than that in the summer.

Mine get almost everything leftover from my kitchen they can have. They definitely turn their nose up to some things but eat most what I give them. Do you have a pic of your feeder? My run is about 10x16 but we plan on extending it further into grassy area in a few months.

 

[Chandlerharris]

I have 22 adults. About 50% bantams maybe a tad less I’d have to make a list! I use about 50# every 2 weeks. I keep their 3 gal feeder 1/2 full all the time. In summer more full but rainy season I don’t want it to absorb too much humidity to prevent spoilage. I long for a flock of 10 but I can’t help myself. I have 3 7wk old babies joining flock as we speak. Barred rock, autralorp and EE.

Same, I have very little self control with adding on to my flock. I’ve got 13 more coming in April but some straight run so they won’t all stay.. I just want my egg basket to be colorful lol. My EE girls are a little stand offish but my BR girls are always very interested in me.

 

[Mtnboomer]

How do you decide who free ranges?

Age and size. We butcher 90% of the birds we hatch at or before 5-6mos. The adult flock free ranges and the youngsters stay in a coop and run set up.

Our friend who gave us the chickens 4 yrs ago does gene expression research for feather color. The pullets that express the color he wants get to live and replace the older birds at 6months OR when they have reached 2/3s the size of tbe adults so that they can weather the storm of pecking order squabbles.

We do 2 hatches a year. At any given time we have 8-15 free range adults and up to 20 chicks during each hatch.

 

[BirdLover2005]

I give about a cup per bird and that seems to work well.

 

[kmk]

They do stick their heads in the pipes to eat. We have the bucket elevated on a block so the pipe is about even with their backs. We made the bucket feeder when they were around 12 weeks old. We used a standard mason jar chick feeder when they were babies and tried using a rectangular tupperware style container with holes cut in the side when they were a little older. Neither of those worked very well as they were dumped over multiple times a day. We still haven't decided what to use for this years new chicks.
Here are the detailed directions I followed to make the bucket feeder

Thank you so much for the detailed instructions. I am so excited to get chickens

 

[Vicker]

Mine get almost everything leftover from my kitchen they can have. They definitely turn their nose up to some things but eat most what I give them. Do you have a pic of your feeder? My run is about 10x16 but we plan on extending it further into grassy area in a few months.

It holds about 25 pounds.