How much to feed?

[Chicken_Chick12]

Hello my chickens will hopefully start laying in the next few weeks ! There are three of them and they are 16 weeks old my question is how much feed to give them? Right now I just fill their dish I’d say it’s about 1 cup of food that they share. I’m so new at this so all help is appreciated! Thank you!

 

[Sussex19]

You can just put enough feed out some there is always some there, and they will self regulate.
How long does the cup full of food last? Going by how much mine eat, I doubt it is enough, but different breeds will eat different amounts.
What breeds do you have?

 

[Chicken_Chick12]

I have two California White and one Calico Princess they eat the feed pretty fast. If I give them too much will they just eat until full and leave the rest?

 

[Sussex19]

I have two California White and one Calico Princess they eat the feed pretty fast. If I give them too much will they just eat until full and leave the rest?

I think both those breeds are quite a good size, so will want a bit more food then a small breed.
And yes, thats the idea. As they have been used to having to eat as much as they can as fast as they can before its all gone, it might take them a little while to get used to it, but there shouldn't be any problems.
If you do want to feed them set meals, a rough guide is to feed them enough breakfast to fill their crops, or until they stop eating. Then a snack to top them up at lunch, and again in the evening as much feed as they can eat to fill their crops.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Chickens aren't meal eaters they are grazers so need feed available all day long. If you are worried about feeding mice you can put the food away at dusk each night. Just don't forget it in the morning.

 

[Kiki]

Hello my chickens will hopefully start laying in the next few weeks ! There are three of them and they are 16 weeks old my question is how much feed to give them? Right now I just fill their dish I’d say it’s about 1 cup of food that they share. I’m so new at this so all help is appreciated! Thank you!

Each full grown hen should be eating about 3/4 cup worth of pelleted or crumbled feed per day.

 

[Al Gerhart]

A quarter pound of pellets or crumbles per day for growing birds and laying hens. Three quarters of a pound in your three bird flock. Put out plenty more, they will not over eat. At first you can just use anything to hold the pellets, until the rodents find the coop. At that point do a forum search for Howard E.'s posts on rodent control.

Welcome to the madness we call raising chickens.