How much Fermented Food should you feed your chickens

ladybead

In the Brooder
Jan 27, 2015
86
4
43
Llano, CA Southern California
I understand that my chickens should be eating between 1/4 cup and 1/3 cup of fee. When you ferment your feed it has water weight. How do you know how much to feed your chickens. I think I chicks are still hungry as they have started eating their eggs and I don't know what to do to fix this.
Rose
 
Always provide enough food that they have it available all day whether dry or fermented.
Eventually you'll find the sweet spot as to how much they eat during a day.
There is no set amount. A Jersey Giant will eat 3 or more times what a silkie will eat.
Chickens are voracious eaters and will eat anything they can get when their crop is empty. That can be feed, greenery, bedding, feces or heaven forbid, eggs.
 
With few exceptions chickens will eat whatever they need calorie wise that day and stop, so don't limit their food, let them limit themselves by always offering excess food... Basically if the food dish is empty you are not feeding them enough... If the food dish still has food and they are still acting starved it's because they are spoiled and are begging for treats...

The biggest exception to the rule would be hybrid meat birds like the Cornish X where that natural "I'm Full" trigger in their bodies no longer functions properly, they need to have their food metered (offered for only a portion of the day) or specifically portioned out for them by volume...
 
I think you should feed as much as they can eat in 15 minutes. If there is food left in the dish after 15 minutes it is too much food.

My flock is 2 turkeys, 4 ducks and a dozen or so chickens and they get about 1 gallon to 2 gallon of 20% multi use pellet fermented. They are pretty spoiled with that, the leaf cuttings, free range in my greenhouse if I leave the door open, plus over an acre to graze on.
I go through a 50# bag about every 7 to 10 days fermented and barely get my money-back from the eggs. So I can't fathom giving them anymore than I already do.

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I go through a 50# bag about every 7 to 10 days fermented and barely get my money-back from the eggs. So I can't fathom giving them anymore than I already do.


I personally don't believe an expected return on investment is a good gauge of how much to feed your birds...

If I didn't get most of my chicken food for free, I would be way in the negative if I expected the eggs to pay for all the feed...

Most chickens should always be offered free access to food, they do a very good job of self regulation and only eat the amount of calories they need for they day, with few exceptions...
 
I've been wondering about how much FF should I be feeding, found this thread.

I got 2 RIR & 2 EE who will be 18wks Feb 17th, just started a bag of Multi Purpose (Feb 10th). 50# bag of Chick Started lasted me a little over 3 months; they got fed 3x day until they were about 10wks. Went to 2x day with grub in the yard & whatever veggie scraps I collect plus freeze dried mealworms as training treats. I measure by scoops which I drain as much liquid as I can; the morning scoops are "drier" when the afternoon one is mushier. I add 2 cups & between 1 1/2 - 2 cups water to my mix for the next day.

In the late afternoon IF there's any leftover, they'll finish it up when I feed them by hand or spoon or chopstick....It's our bonding time....Here's a pic of Ehu & Dusk at 10wks.

 
YMMV depending on if they are out to free range, time of year, and if they are truly free ranging with a varied environment to work on. While free ranging on a manicured lawn is helpful, that does not provide the nutrient that they would get if allowed to free range over meadow and woods.My girls get fed in the morning, followed by some sprouts, scratch, or more feed in the afternoon, depending on how their crops look. I like to see them heading into the evening with their crops full.
 

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