How much do your chickens eat?

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It has to be rats in the other coop. I forgot about eggs disappearing and finding half eaten eggs (I blamed it on a rogue chicken)...and the hens won’t even lay in the nest boxes now! They go lay eggs in the opposite corner. Are chickens scared of rats?

Rats will definitely frighten birds, especially at night, and they can chew legs on birds roosting. So definitely get rid of them.

 

[Folly's place]

Rats will kill chickens at night, eat a lot of eggs and feed, and carry nasty diseases that YOU can get! Tighten up your coop with more hardware cloth to prevent entry, and set out bait stations, and have your rat colony gone ASAP.
Mary

 

[aart]

Rats couldn’t get through the wire, and the holes look more like mouse sized....but I would think it would take a ton of mice to move that much feed!?

What wire mesh size do you have?
Not sure mice dig holes/tunnels thru dirt like rats do.
The wild birds someone else mentioned are another thought.

Pics of your coops and runs might help garner suggestions.
Oh....and...
Where in this world are you located?
Climate is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, then it's always there!

 

[Melky]

I do not put any feed outside unless in fenced in run so you are not feeding the wildlife.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Keep in mind, a 10 lb. feeder may or may not hold 10 lbs., depending on whether you are using pellets or crumbles.

 

[KiwiSue49]

Hi b2c2,
One of the local French bakery girls, after I told her my chickens diet, said I had 'gourmet chickens'.
I sprinkle few handfuls of layer feed in bottom of their wooden trough, then their kitchiri (Indian vegan rice and mung bean dish), which I have added scrambled egg, chopped ends of asparagus (cooked), and desert spoon full of yogurt; then a grated carrot apple and cucumber salad, with chicken feed on top.
They free range when I am home, so nibble on and off on greenery, as well as scratching for insects. I give them the same breakfast for dinner.
They asked for dinner early yesterday so gave it to them, except when I got home 7.30 and let them out before bedtime Tilly made noises, staired into her trough looking expectantly. Lucky for her I hadn't finished mine, so she was in luck
I also have out in the lawn under trampoline a bit of plain yoghurt.
Could depend on particular chickens whether they self regulate. We are heading into summer so that could make a difference. Am too new to say.
Have even made mashed potato

 

[Wezdin]

Parasites can also cause your chickens to eat a lot more, but i'm no expert.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Depends on the size of the bird and age but a medium sized bird like a Rhode Island Red that is laying during cold weather should eat around 4 ounces or a quarter pound of feed per day, so four birds per day per pound. Ten birds, 2.5 pounds per day. Roosters eat very little in most cases once they are grown, especially pellets or crumbles that aren't very palatable. Treats? Then mine is a vacuum cleaner.

So a fifty pound sack of pellets or crumbles ought to last for 200 birds for one day, twenty birds ten days, ten birds twenty days. Growing birds eat a lot more. If your food is going faster than that you have rats or wild birds.

 

[FnWeirdo]

i find if you hang the feeder in the coop the feed lasts way longer, i give a healthy snack in the am and in the winter months i give corn in evenings to help them generate more heat in the winter. the logic of feed in the coop and water in the run is that they will be more encourage to forage before they go for feed. but if the water is in the coop they will go in the coop more often and then they will still eat a lot from the feeder still.

 

[staceyj]

...and do you ration their feed each day? Apparently mine eat too much. Twenty standards size birds (6 months old so still growing somewhat) can clear 20lbs of feed in 2 days. I fill 2 10lb feeders up every 2 days. Everywhere I have read says .25lbs per bird per day is the recommended amount...but they act like they’re starving to death if they have to wait more than half a day to have the feeders filled. I want to set up a stationary feeder that will hold more...but what’s going to keep them from going through 100lbs in a week!?

I also have 20 more older chickens in another coop that do this too...they’re not quite as bad...they can go maybe 3 days on 20lbs.

Something else is eating your feed. you’d be thigh high in chicken poop if they were consuming all that feed without help.
Do you leave it out 24/7?