how much does a chicken eat and drink?

[mikecoen]

we have 10 pullets almost 3 months old and they now roam and roost in their 4x8 tractor with a 10 square foot barn/henhouse up over one end. They get moved once or twice a day and seem to drain their one gallon waterer and eat or waste about half a cup of starter crumbles on top of what they scratch and graze. Is there an amount of water, amount of dry feed per day figure to gauge by? In Colorado, they'll be out mostly all the time now, roosting at night in their tractorhouse. In winter they'll be back in the 4x8 coop with roosts. I guess they have enough feed since they can also eat the grass, but I am wondering if I might be short on the gallon per day waterer, especially when the days get longer and hotter. Thanks for this great forum and all the resources you all provide!

 

[WallTenters]

For ten birds I'd provide more than one gallon.. It really depends so much on the birds, so it's hard to answer how much they eat or drink. My birds seem to go through about a half a cup of pellets and about six times that amount of their special treats (BOSS, wheat and oats) per breeding pen per day!

Funny how that works out, eh? They spend all morning picking through their food looking for the good stuff! OH, and they can eat about a pound of string cheese and not blink an eye!

Depends on, size of bird, breed of bird, age of bird, laying stage/hormones, lighting, heat, feed, quality of water, overall nutrition, etc etc etc etc etc

For ten pullets, I think you'd be better off to get a 5 gallon waterer. That should last more than a day, but at least you'd know they weren't running out each day.

 

[goldtopper]

I have 4- 10 week old pullets and have 2-2 gallon buckets with the nipples on the bottoms. I haven't completely refilled them in 2 weeks! Very little waste with those setups.

 

[Amatsukaze]

My 24 Plymouth Rocks go through 5gal of water in about 3 days.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I would recommend supplying them with unlimited food and water so they do not ever run out. A 5 gallons of water and 5 gallon feeder should keep you from spending too much time maintaining their food and water supplies.

 

[BairleaFarm]

My 23 pullets
6 bigger pullets
6 cornish
and 2 randoms drink a little less than 1 gallon a day. They have eaten 20 pounds of feed( i know a bunch was wasted before the feeders) + table scraps in two weeks