How much feed should I expect 4 chickens to eat?

[cooleydooley]

Just wanted to check with some of you experts Have had my 4 1.5 yr old for 3 weeks Saturday and looks like I will have just about gone through the initial 25 pound bag of layer feed by probably Sunday or Monday. I take it out of the run and put away for the night then bring it back as soon as I let them out of the coop in the morning. I have also been giving them lettuces ( love having my greens garden right next to them as the lettuces have all bolted in this heat wave and would usually feels bad as I grew them all from seed but now not so much as I look at it as chicken food!), bread scraps, rice, a handful of scratch each day (not on the really hot days). So my question is - is this too much feed for them to be going through - 25 pounds in @3 weeks? Should I not have it free choice all day long?

This BB is great - some of my friend look at me a bit crooked when I talk about my new chickens and laugh when I mention this site. Bet they would not be laughing if they were me right now going out to collect my breakfast

 

[LarryPQ]

Could the tweety birds be eating the food too? 25 pounds over 3 weeks sounds a little high, but not terribly so.

You do want the chooks to be able to free-feed.

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

If your wild bird population can get to it, they will be very happy to 'help' your 4 birds empty the feeder!

Our feeder is in the run which has 1" welded wire and 1/2" hardware cloth so no free-loaders can help themselves. Mine were billing out a lot of feed...our 22 chickens went through 50# bag in one week...hopefully now that they are in the run and the hanging feeder will not allow them to bill or scratch out feed it will slow down the trips to TSC!

 

[Hillsvale]

my feed is in a feeder in the coop at all times, man door closed and pop door open (so presumably no outsiders) I dump a 25 kilo (55 lbs) bag every 3.5 to 4 weeks.... this feeds 16 chickens, roos and hens between the ages of 13 to 21 weeks. They roam about their run all day which is about 70 feet square +/- na d eat whatever they can find.

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

I have always understood that 1/2 pound per bird per day is the correct amount.

 

[Hillsvale]

Settin'_Pretty :

I have always understood that 1/2 pound per bird per day is the correct amount.

Wow that would make for expensive eggs (well if I were getting some

) that would mean I would need to buy 240 pounds of food a month... for me that would mean about $65.00...​

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Quote:
Wow that would make for expensive eggs (well if I were getting some

) that would mean I would need to buy 240 pounds of food a month... for me that would mean about 65.00...

Yep, pretty high! I would need over 300#'s a month.