How much feed do you go thru?

[newchickiefarmer]

this is awesome! i only have three chickies... a 50 lb bag will last me all year!!!

 

[92caddy]

I go thru a half ton a month...........................

 

[kyfarmer]

i have about 60 chickens now i use about 200 pd and 100 layer

 

[tnkinhunting]

We have about 225 chickens, geese and guinea's and use about 2400 pounds of feed a month. We have a lot of young chicks who waste a lot of feed so after we cull next month, I expect to cut the feed bill in half at least. Major reduction in flock coming up. I love my chickens, but too much time, labor and $$ being spent on them.

 

[GopherBoyFarms]

We have 23 chickens all 20 weeks old (a few have started laying, and one is a rooster) We go through 50 pounds of feed a week (really like every 10 days) Our birds freerange from the time they are out of the coop in the moring till the time they go in at night. They have about 1/4 acre to freerange on and we plant grass seed every other month is different locations around the yard.
Our girls also get table scraps, and we have humans that LOVE to spoil the chickens (I am buying a lot more bread then I used to)
I am glad I found this thread...I was just getting ready to ask the question about how much feed people buy.
We fill the feeder full and then when it is empty fill it again and the only feeder is inside the coop, but I put a plate of feed out in the run for them each morning (its only like 2 cups of feed)
Oh, and we buy oatmeal in bulk (about $4.00 a month) and almost every other morning the girls get oatmeal for breakfast.

 

[kinnip]

Wow! I'm not holding back anymore treats. Mine go through about 40lb/wk + the obviously meager treatage. I have 13 at 13 weeks and 5 at 8 weeks. I know a lot gets wasted, but based on the other posts, I'm overfeeding. When they were younger, they ate waaay more. I wasn't keeping track, but I know how often I was in the feed store.

 

[NaturalChick]

Quote:
LOL!!!!!

My 10 new 20 wk old hens have gone through about 15 lbs. of laying crumbles in two weeks. I feel we are doing okay but only one hen is laying so far and she seems to eat a ton every day. So we will see.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Oh dear... do I have to do math?

We get:
chick starter
Broiler finisher
layer feed
turkey food
duck food
wild gamebird starter
wild gamebird grower
rabbit food

Each averages $20/50 lb sack, and probably 650-700 pounds a month, and ~ $300/per month. But the turkeys and cornish are going away soon, and I expect that number to go WAY down after that. That's for 82 chickens, 212 birds and two rabbits. Does not include food for 3 large dogs and two growing boys.

 

[smom1976]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Oh dear... do I have to do math?

We get:
chick starter
Broiler finisher
layer feed
turkey food
duck food
wild gamebird starter
wild gamebird grower
rabbit food

Each averages $20/50 lb sack, and probably 650-700 pounds a month, and ~ $300/per month. But the turkeys and cornish are going away soon, and I expect that number to go WAY down after that. That's for 82 chickens, 212 birds and two rabbits. Does not include food for 3 large dogs and two growing boys.

those two growing boys are whats gonna break ya..

smom1976 wrote:
does anyone know the food/chick ratio that we should be feeding?

I don't know, exactly. My thought is that if their feeder is empty when you check on them, they need more. If there's still some feed left in it, they're probably getting enough feed.

I know that's a pretty generic answer - Sorry. I obsessed over it at first, but now I'm more relaxed about the whole thing.​

not really obsessing.. I just noticed that when my little ones were chicks I would fill a mason jar to feed them through the day, then they got to tweens and I used two mason jars.. well now at 13 weeks I am up to a large #10 size can and sometimes more... and my #50 lb bag is lasting less.. I do know when I feed them in a large dog bowl the sides keep the food in when they scratch at it.. but when there reaction is like they are starving.. I just think that is the way they are.. my husband, "Your not feeding them enough, they need more food" (comming from a man that loves food) I am obsessing however.. on how much food I might be wasting and seeing that as $$$ going down the drain.. $$$ that we dont have.. I know that the chickens are not starving they get everything that comes out of the fridge as well as freeranging..

I agree with the pp about not realizing how much food I threw away untill I got chickens..​

 

[Chickenaddict]

Lets see....
on a monthly basis i go thru
2 50 lb bags of chick starter @ $12.99 each
2 50 lb bags of flock raiser @ $14.99 each
3 50 lb bags of layer crumble @ $11.49 each
6 huge bags of pine shavings @ $5.99 each

approx $114.88 a month for 28 chickens

doubles in the winter pretty much