How much do your chickens eat? :D

[silkiechicken]

At about 34 cents a lb when just buying 50lb bags of feed (16 a bag here)... the cheaper way would be to find a mill and buy by the ton. That said, most other "supplements" really are just dilutions. To solve my expensive egg issue, I raise leghorns for white eggs and cull out all older hens by 3 years old and replace them with productive girls. My flock is of 5 leghorns, 2 sexlinks. I get 4-5 eggs a day from the leghorns, 0 for the 2-3 months from the two sexlinks. The only reason the sexlinks are around is because those two have reached pet status. The leghorns pay the way for the rest so to say.

I don't know what other grain or food you can get for 34 cents a pound and still have the same energy packed into it. Potatoes per lb might be less, but a lot of that is water weight. Pellets are pretty dry.

 

[JRchickchick]

I bought 17 chicks Spring of 2010, and tracked feed purchased, and averaged out the feed (combining feed and scratch), and they eat approximately 1/4 lb per bird per day. During the summer, they eat more grass, during the winter, more feed (less greens available). I sprinkle about 3 cups of scratch out in the yard in the morning, and now that I have 30 chickens, (another year, + 18 chicks, - 3 death, -1 rooster giveway, -1 rooster to crock pot camp), and I give them about 5-6 cups of scratch in the morning (actually, 2 handfuls in the coop on the floor to encourage scratching in the wee morning hours when the door hasn't opened yet, and the coop controller light is on).

So, again, things have averaged out about 1/4 lb per chicken per day. Doing the math, takes it out to 7.5 lbs/day for 30 hens, or 225 lbs/month. Whew! I had better plant them some greens in the Spring time!

 

[tempus49]

a local salvation army gets donations of out of date bakery products from a krogers.
They put the newest stuff on the shelves and the older stuff goes in a bin outside for anyone that wants it.
we get about 15-20 loaves of whole grain bread a week (or so) and it all goes to the hens.
They get it in the pen and in their free range area, keeps them busy along with everything else.
this is my first go at raising chickens. the way i have it figured my first egg will have cost me about $600.00

 

[BoltonChicken]

5 Buff Orpington hens. Eat about 50# Purina Layena every two months. I let them roam free range about one hour per day, and supplement table scraps and scratch. A really healthy bunch, laying an average of four X-Large eggs per day.
Life is good.

 

[xinixx]

made a very simple and very easy to make automatic chicken feeder. No rodents and birds eating too The chickens feed on their on demand seach youtube for eikenburger (channel ) can't miss it, only a few video's in it. otherwise search youtube for other options using bumpfeeder.
Grt. Jan

 

[IMDeggman]

I was recently looking online and on feed sacks for guidance (foolishly, not on BYC), and all I could find was to feed 1/4 lb. layer feed per bird per day. What I could not find was the volume taken up by 1/4 lb. of feed. I have 8 birds, so that would be 2 lbs. a day, which would mean a 50 lb. sack would last 25 days. I am just guessing at what I am giving them- two large drink cups full every day, free access. Occasional greens and other people food, plus scattering some bird seed around 2-3 days a week. And free ranging. They lay well, around 6 eggs a day for 7 hens. Anyhow, can anyone give me a weight-volume conversion??

 

[melissasz]

I have twentyfour hens and they go through a fifty pound bag a week! Sometimes a little more. They get all of our "good" scraps and we buy them a cabbage a week plus any other friuts and veggies we find on clearence. On one hand I'm going broke buying food but on the other the girls are beautiful and great layers. It's the end of December and we are getting between twenty- two and twenty- three eggs a day!

I wonder though if I am over feeding them?

Melissa in Maine

 

[rirbrahma]

Quote:
A week? Mine eat 100 pounds a month! Your chickens eat 200 a month? Lol

 

[digitS']

Quote:
A cup of my feed (Flock Raiser crumbles) weighs just about 1/3 pound or, 3 cups to the pound. That isn't 100% exact but it isn't a "scoop" or "double handful" or something. I used a measuring cup from the kitchen and a scale

.

Without taking a little time to measure, look at receipts and putting a pencil down on a piece of paper -- I don't know how anyone can really answer questions like:

How much do my chickens eat?
What are my feed costs?
What does a dozen eggs cost me?

Realize that they are at their MAX for feed right now with cold temperatures and little to find to eat in the yard. They must keep their calorie intake up to stay warm. We often hear how chickens can take a lot of cold and I've watched how they do thru many winters. Yes, they can stay warm when the temperature gets way down on the thermometer - however, their feed intake goes up. It isn't a time for them to go on a lo-cal diet.

Having an insulted coop with a light on a timer, allows them to hang out thru the hours of darkness where the wind and cold isn't as bad. That keeps their feed requirements down.

Steve

 

[miriamsfeathered5]

I have 5 Buff Orppingtons who eat 25 lbs of Layer pellets in about 3 1/2 to 4 weeks. Plus, I give them a couple handfuls of dried mealy worms, and about a cup of black oiled sunflower seeds every day. Oh! and a handful of whole oats here and there, and a quartered apple now and then for fun. Yes, they are spoiled! They are not fat. They are still free ranging because here in Maine we are having much less snow than usual by this time. I think free range chickens burn more calories than those that are penned in.