How much does a chickie eat?

[mirjam]

I'm trying to calculate the cost for raising baby chicks to sell them at cost next spring. I need to know how much a baby chick eats during its first 6 weeks in life. Do 5 pounds sound right?

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

What breed is it? Some breeds will eat more than others.

 

[mirjam]

Not sure yet, but they all will be layers.

 

[DaKid]

not sure by i know eat like little piglets

 

[Hawn808C]

layers eh... there gonna be piggies. prob eat alot. i gave up my rhode Is reds cause of that eh

 

[mirjam]

Anybody with a number? Pounds of food for the average layer breed within the first 6 weeks per chick...

 

[tvtaber]

" A normally-maturing chick (i.e., breeds which mature in about 6 months, such as egg-layers) will eat about 2 pounds of starter feed in its first 6 weeks of life. "

Google; gotta love it!

 

[mirjam]

Wow, Thanks tvtaber! Do you have a link for it?

 

[DaKid]

A normally-maturing chick (i.e., breeds which mature in about 6 months, such as egg-layers) will eat about 2 pounds of starter feed in its first 6 weeks of life. "

WELL I must be way way over feeding my guys 10 chicks -5 weeks old now and just about to finishing up a #50 lb bag . if I figured it out 10 birds X 2 lbs pre bird = 20 lbs ,







MMMMMM some one stole 30 lbs of feed​

 

[Home on the Stead]

We're almost to the second week with ours - 26 chicks about 26lbs of food in 2 weeks. Guess they don't eat as much as they get older

I had to get a larger feeder within the first week to keep from having to fill it 3x a day.

On the other hand though - it's getting cold here and I suspect they eat more when it's cold.

Google or not with rules of thumb like that you always need to include the disclaimer - "Your mileage may vary"!