how much do your chickens eat?

[bantamkelley]

My question to you is how much do your chickens eat per day? Please include type of food, species, and how often you feed that type of feed. Please use lbs. as measurement.

 

[Fred's Hens]

large fowl hens, in full lay. Each hen eats and average of 6 ounces of feed per day. I feed Hubbard layer mash, laced with 20% re-constituted alfalfa.

 

[roxyblue]

if you plan on feeding your chickens on layer pellets alone around a quarter pound for each bird a day is a good amount to feed them. However if you plan on letting them free range and giving them a few scraps here and there you can cut back a couple ounces. I am no expert and every bird eats differently, I would have to say that the easiest way to feed them would be to just dumb a bag of food into a feeder and let them eat when they feel like it.

 

[Capvin]

My problem is not how much they eat, but how much they scatter over the run. I feed them layer pellets from a suspended feeder and quite a lot winds up on the ground. I have just now gotten into the habit of putting their feeder away and let them eat what is on the ground first.

 

[Tikkijane]

Totally depends on treats and temperature. Right now, we think they are all laying; all pullets; and because it's cold, they are going through a 3 lb feeder every other day or a bit more. I have 13. I'm using a combo of 20% and 16% with oyster shell and grit available 24/7. They are also out in the afternoons (except today they didn't want out because of the snow) until they put themselves to bed. In the summer when they are hot, they are not eating as much feed and we do more frozen treats.

I don't have any bantams.

Just out of curiosity, why do you want those specifics? I would assume that every flock is going to be different, and I would assume there is no one-size-fits-all formula for feeding.....

Tikki