How often do 8 week chicks need to eat?

[Lucysmom002]

Obviously, I've been letting my babies eat all they want to and they always have feed. They are on medicated chick starter/grower. They are 8 weeks old now. I put them outside in a nice grassy run with a nice shelter. The problem is.... the wild birds are eating their feed and drinking their water. Also, the scare them! The chicks run inside when the birds are there. They are wrens and sparrows by the way.
So, I'm trying to figure out how many times per day I would need to go out and feed them to keep them happy without free feeding the wild birds! Grr
I have bird feeders out for the wild birds, I guess they like the chick feed too. I don't think medicated feed is good for them either.

I also have some 13 week old chicks right on the other side of the fence out there. Same thing, wild birds eating all their feed. They are hanging out with my year old hens now. THey have tons of grass and vegetation to eat too.

 

[Nicole01]

Chickens need food at all times during the light hours. I keep food out 24/7, but of course they don't eat at night. I give them extra protien in their diet with HB eggs and sunflower seeds daily.

 

[HEChicken]

I had this problem too but it went away when I switched to pellets. The pellets were too large for the wild birds to eat so they gave up and went elsewhere. It actually annoys me to no end that although Purina makes Flock Raiser in pellet form, it is not available in my area. I even asked my feed store to order it specially but was told Purina will not ship it here even on special order. One option to try is to hang your feeder. If you hang it about the height of the backs of the chicks, they will be able to reach in and get the food but hopefully it will be too high for the smaller wild birds. Some will no doubt be billed out but what I did was to put a large planter base under the feeder so what was billed out landed in it and I could then pour it back into the feeder. That worked fairly well too. Also, depending on your set up, you could try moving the feeder somewhere the birds can't or won't go (like inside the coop).

 

[love-my-wolves]

Can you hang the feeders inside the coops? I agree they need food all day, but if the birds are eating it, they aren't getting all they need. I would say definitely find a way to cover or enclose the feeder, or look up the PVC feeders and see if those would help?? Good luck!!

 

[Lucysmom002]

I do have one of the feeders that can be hung up. I can try that.

My chickens have a large 12 x 24 coop that my husband just built but it's way too hot in there on these hot days. The little coop they have now was used when we had baby turkeys. I did put some feed in there too.
I don't know if pellets are available here or not. I don't recall seeing them at the feed store but I wasn't really looking either.

Thanks everyone. Maybe I can put a scarecrow out there

 

[NYRIR]

Quote:
x 2

 

[Ariel301]

You don't NEED to keep food in front of them at all times. It has been a common practice for a long time to just feed them in the morning and evening. It's not a problem to put the food out for a while a couple of times a day to let the chickens have their fill and then removing it so the wild birds are not eating you out of house and home.

 

[Lucysmom002]

I figure if the wild birds don't have any feed for a few days they will eventually go away. I'm home all day so I've been going out there several times a day.

thanks!

 

[Cadjien_De_Louisiane]

As long as mine or on chick starter or chick grower they have it 24/7 untill they go to laying pellets then just once a day about 1/2 cup each for small breads 3/4cup or more each for larger maybe.

 

[Cadjien_De_Louisiane]

My American Games get 1/2cup each day