Feed heavy late in the afternoon. That is what free ranging flock keepers normally say. If you fill them up in the am, they aren' too motivated to go searching for food.
As the quality of range deteriorates as we head toward early winter, fewer and fewer calories can come from ranging here. Bugs are dying off, frosty nights, browning of grasses, etc, all means there is simply less of anything for our birds to find. Feed increases. As winter sets in, our birds intake of feed normally rises by 20% as they are using those calories, a unit of heat, to keep themselves warm.
A bird on top quality range can eat as little as 2 ounces of feed. A bird cooped up or on sterile range may eat as much as 6 ounces per day. Your 24 birds will thus eat as little as 3 pounds per day to as much as 9 pounds per day. Let the birds tell you. If there is feed left over when they've gone to roost, you've overshot their needs by that amount. If they tray is dead empty by 4 pm, you've under-estimated their need.
