How much feed for baby chicks?

NoodlesMama

Songster
May 3, 2019
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South East Michigan
I'm getting 8 bantams and 2 standard Easter eggers in a couple weeks and I was wondering if there was a trusted formula for calculating the amount of food I will need from day old to when they go on layer feed. If not does anyone have an estimate on how much food one bantam or standard size chick needs for the time they are on chick starter? I'd like to buy all the food I will need at once since its cheaper to buy in bulk.
 
I'm getting 8 bantams and 2 standard Easter eggers in a couple weeks and I was wondering if there was a trusted formula for calculating the amount of food I will need from day old to when they go on layer feed. If not does anyone have an estimate on how much food one bantam or standard size chick needs for the time they are on chick starter? I'd like to buy all the food I will need at once since its cheaper to buy in bulk.
There is probably a formula used by hatcheries/breeders for the amount of feed a chick needs a day. I don't know what it is though and there are so many variations in peoples keeping conditions that I would be reluctant to apply it.
Most people with contained chicks provide on demand. If free ranging and it's not practicable to leave chick feed out, then some may do as I do and try to feed some before the chicks and parents are let out and make sure some is available at night before roost time.
I have problems getting the free range chicks here to eat the commercial feed. I'll provide a bowl full, mum will come along and scratch it out and then pick bits out for the chicks.
For contained chicks the easiest option is to have feed available 24/7. You could calculate how much they eat over time if you wanted.
The problem with buying feed in bulk is it goes off, particularly if the storage conditions are not ideal. I prefer to feed all the chickens here feed that falls within as few a weeks from the mill date as possible. You know it's reasonably fresh this way.
 
I'd like to buy all the food I will need at once since its cheaper to buy in bulk.
The thing about chicken feed is it's very perishable. I've had feed go bad 5 months from mill date. The day it was bagged at the grain mill. And the feed was kept in my house at room temperature.
Feed stored outside in the heat and humidity, may get Grain mites. Chickens may refuse to eat.
Feed stored in cold and damp conditions, could develop Mold. Can kill chickens.
Store the feed in your house if possible. I keep mine in a spare room near the back door.
The feed in the store could already be 2 to 3 months old or even older.
I buy one bag at a time after I open the recently bought bag.
I have 8 full size full grown chickens and the most recent 50 lbs of feed lasted 38 days. They eat about half in the summer compared to winter.
They also get Scratch Grains as a treat and free range an hour before sunset daily weather permitting.
Check the mill date on the feed before buying or loading in your car and only buy one bag at a time for your 10 Chickens.
Because I only have 8 chickens, I won't buy feed over two months old. GC
 
Yes, check the mill date on each bag of feed, and buy what you will use within six to eight weeks of milling. Older isn't better!
You can figure on about three pounds of feed per pound of gain, as a very rough guess. Plan on a bit more, but it's a starting point. So if your bantams reach laying age at 2 pounds each, and your standard pullets at six pounds each, that's about 28 pounds of birds, x3, so about 90 pounds of feed. BUT that's over five months, and you can't have feed stored that long! Buy no more than one very fresh 50 pound bag, or if you can get 25 pound bags, or 20 pounds, or even 40 pounds at a time, that will be better.
Mary
 
I'd like to buy all the food I will need at once since its cheaper to buy in bulk.
First and foremost, you could feed them an "all flock" feed and avoid the need to switch foods later; later, when they're laying, you can feed the same "all flock" and have a dish of oyster shell, egg shell or whatever calcium supplement you prefer on the side. Birds that don't need the extra calcium typically avoid it, and those that need it will use it. Secondly, I realized that buying in bulk is more cost effective, but ALL grain products (even flour, rice, cake mix, pancake mix etc) comes with grain weevil eggs in it, and eventually those eggs will hatch unless you put it in your freezer. Do you have the freezer space to store it? And before you go thinking about how bugs are extra protein... the weevils apparently taste like sin on a biscuit, since my birds won't touch them with a ten foot pole (teehee).
Now, back to your question about how much feed. Chicks should have all the feed they want in the daytime until they're about 6 weeks old, and sadly, they do waste alot. Adult, standard sized chickens eat about 4 ounces daily, each. You're talking about having eight bantams and two EE's; ten birds, with the bantams eating slightly less (depending on how small they are). You should be using about two to two-and-a-half pounds of feed daily for your flock of ten. A 40kg (88 pound) bag of feed should last you somewhere between one month & six weeks. You can expect those weevil eggs to hatch after two or three weeks; hence the need to freeze at least half of the bag.
 

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