How much food do I feed 24 chickens

[SongBaby33]

Hi everyone I don't know how much to feed my Chickens there are 24
I feed them on layers peelets

 

[sourland]

Some feed twice a day - as much as they clean up in 20 minutes or so. Others provide feed ad lib. A lot depends upon breed, point in life cycle, weather, whether or not they are free ranged --------------------

 

[ChickenCanoe]

As much as they will eat. For adult laying hens, you don't want them to run out of feed.

 

[Mimi13]

I leave pellets out for them all the time. In the morning, I give my birds a wet mash of their food. Sometimes they eat it all up, sometimes they don’t.

I don’t subscribe to the method of only letting them eat what they can in a certain time period simply because not all birds will get what they need. They aren’t all on an even playing field. Some are dominant and will keep the lessers from the food.

 

[GC-Raptor]

My Hens and Pullets have feed, water, Poultry Grit and Oyster Shells for the adults available in their coops 24/7. . The only thing I limit is Scratch Grains. . The hens get their greens and bugs when they Freerange, up to an hour a day, weather permitting. GC

 

[Mosey2003]

Either leave a feeder out all day or feed them 1/4 pound each and then gauge what they typically eat. If they're leaving some, you can feed a bit less. If they're polishing it off early, feed a bit more. Or you could weigh a full feeder and then weigh again at the end of the day to determine roughly what they go through.

 

[Bird maniac]

I always have feed and water and grit out for my chickens, the only thing I limit is treats.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Unless you are raising meat birds or have a plan for controlling mature rate of highly productive commercial layers, don't limit or micromanage feed intake.
If they forage, their consumption will vary from day to day depending on what they find.
Chickens are voracious eaters. When their crop is empty, they'll eat something, anything they can grab. That could be feed, feces, bedding, tree bark, leaves, etc.. I would rather the bulk of what they consume is a complete poultry feed.

 

[press1forenglish]

For those leaving out food 24/7, do you live in an area with bears? Just asking because I have lost many hanging songbird feeders because they love the seed.

 

[Mimi13]

For those leaving out food 24/7, do you live in an area with bears? Just asking because I have lost many hanging songbird feeders because they love the seed.

First of all, welcome to BYC. You will love it here. And, I love your user name. I absolutely understand the meaning. So apropos today!

Now to your question. It’s always a good idea to take your feed inside for the night to keep those chicken feed predators away, not just bears but rodents too. Just make sure that the feed/water is put back out as soon as the birds come off the roost. I guess instead of the time frame being quoted as 24/7 it should be noted as daylight to dusk/7. The birds don’t need access to food or water at night.