How much to feed?

[startingaflock]

My girls free-feed. Their feeder has food in it all the time. I also dump kitchen scraps in every couple of days. Right now in the winter I am going through a 50lb bag about every 5-6 weeks for my 6 chickens. I pay about $13 (that's the layena 17% crumbles). It costs me about $0.31/day to feed the 6 of them. And they are by no means fat.

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Ok, 5-6 weeks I'll scientifically

average out to be 40 days....that's 1.25 pounds per day.... which is .208 pounds per day, a bit under the 1/4 pound mark BUT you're adding the scraps, etc., that shows that the goodies off the table can help with the ladies grocery bill! And yelp, those figures comes out to around $.325/day for feed.

To put it a bit more into perspective, what breed of chickens do you have and how old are they?

Thanks,
Ed

 

[Siler]

Should the daily and evening temperatures factor into that as well? Right now we have a daily high of about 25 degrees and last night it was 8 degrees here in Indiana. I wondered what my girls should be eating as well. We feed a general poultry feed with 14% protein. We also supplement with kitchen scraps and the occasional low sugar cereal as a treat like corn or wheat flakes. They also eat a large butternut squash each week.

Thanks eggboy for starting this thread. It will be helpful to all of us newbies here.

 

[chickbird]

Quote:
what brand of feed do you use? i use purina layenea? i've heard that is a dood brand. thanks

 

[2txmedics]

How much feed should my flocks be eating a day in mash? I feed about 2 , large coffee can to my flock of 17, 1 can flock of 9 and 1/2can to my 2 small por. D'uccles, and one roo buff.

 

[saladin]

For fully mature fowl: 4 oz of high quality feed once a day is all they need if also on grass. Anything more than this is just wasteful. saladin

 

[2txmedics]

so when you say 4oz of feed are you talking mash, scratch type of feed or pellets?...and since my babies are 5mos to 1yr old, should they be on Pellets? I give them all the left overs we have, plus bread soaked in milk with oatmeal when its cold...and I only let the Buffs out to free range for about 2-3hrs....

I let the Ee's out once and they went crazy!!! Like wow, SPRING BREAK, and went running all over and flying!!!! I couldnt keep them in one spot, so what Im doing is training the buffs to stay put and then once that is done, I will let the others out slowly.....the buffs and ee's are my youngest....5mos....

 

[saladin]

Pellets or mash? That would be your choice. Regardless, 4 oz. is enough: with pellets there is less waste.

 

[gsim]

Quote:
Feed them as much as they will eat always. Do supplement with all manner of scraps and such. Mine get tons of veggie and fruit scraps year round, especially when the garden is producing. They need more to stay warm this time of year. I go thru 50# a month for 24 pullets in summertime ( maybe a little over 1 1/2#/day) with lots of treats from garden. In winter, I go thru 50# in 3 weeks which is around 2 1/2#/day

 

[saladin]

As I said 4 oz for mature fowl is plenty. If you desire to feed more that is up to you, but understand you are not doing your birds any good at all. I was under the assumption you desire strong healthy fowl. saladin