How much should I feed my pullets?

[123abcde]

My around 16 wk old white leghorn pullets are fed around 1 cup of feed each day altogether, is that enough? I feed them once in the morning when I get up and once just before I lock their coop.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

How many do you have? Ideally they would be given enough to eat whenever they're hungry, or at least fed 2x a day

 

[123abcde]

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, I have 4 of them

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, I have 4 of them

That's the absolute minimum. On avaerage, a bird will eat 1/4 cup, but some need more

 

[Lizzy733]

I'd strongly recommend giving them free-choice of a crumble or pelleted feed. Chickens tend to eat what they need and aren't know to overeat if they're not a meat breed. They can be picky and eat the wrong things though, which is why pelleted us recomended. Laying hens require a reliable and consistent food source to keep up egg production.

Remember, the better quality their nutrition, the better quality nutrition their eggs will provide you. It's not really an area to be skimping on. Too may treats can offbalance their diet, so make sure to keep those to less than 10% of their diet.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Usually by weight. The typical estimate is about 1/4# per bird per day. LOTS of things can affect that figure - quality (and energy content) of the feed, breed of bird, whether or no they are laying, weather, etc. Its a "thumb rule" and a good starting point, not the end of the discussion.

After that, some observation can help you adjust to meet your flock needs. Feed half in the AM, half at late day for a week or so, and watch them feed. At the end of the week, if they are walking away uninterested before most of the feed is eaten, cut back a little bit. If they are ravenously gobbling it up and mobbing you for more, adda bit more. Adjust either way about 1/4# at a time for a flock that size.

Also, and I'm not good at this, you can pick up your birds and feel the keel bone, start to get a sense of when they are thin, when they are tending fat. I want to say @aart has a really good article on how its done, illustrations, scoring, etc. Or search the web. Here's PoultryDVM on it (not a spectacular site, but sometimes useful for the basics). and here's the Dummies, much the same.

I don't use the process (which is why I've not developed the skill) because I butcher a couple birds a week from my flock, so I can get up inside them and poke around for a good sense of whether or not their nutritional needs are being met - not only by considering yield and subcutaneous fat, but also intra-organ fat, kidney and liver size and coloration, etc. Not a practical solution for you.

Or "free feed". Perfectly reasonable approach, unless you have CX - and you don't.

 

[Brooks_]

I think free feeding the typical back yard flock is the best practice.

 

[aart]

I want to say @aart has a really good article on how its done, illustrations, scoring, etc.

Nope, not me.

I think free feeding the typical back yard flock is the best practice.

Agrees wholeheartedly.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Nope, not me.


Agrees wholeheartedly.

Apologies for miss-tagging. I *know* I read a really good post just starting out here on BYC, possibly in the meat birds thread, and now can't seem to find it.

Anyhow, it won't answer how much your birds should eat a day, but if I didn't free range (and didn't have goats), I'd free feed now that I've gotten rid of the CX.

 

[HappyClucker7]

I would definitely just fill a feeder and let them eat when they want. Birds have very fast metabolisms, which require them to eat often. But unless they're meat birds, they're not going to eat so much that they become overweight.