How often to feed

[sweetchix]

We just moved our 7 week old chickens to their coop. We leave feed available to them 24/7. Is this too much? Do we need to only feed them twice a day? They are egg layers only and are red sex-linked.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

We just moved our 7 week old chickens to their coop. We leave feed available to them 24/7. Is this too much? Do we need to only feed them twice a day? They are egg layers only and are red sex-linked.

They regulate their intake to what they need, they won't overeat. It doesn't hurt to let the feeders go empty in the middle of the day though. Letting them go empty before feeding again in early evening encourages them to eat the finer minerals that settle to the bottom of the feeder and clean up any feed that may have been spread around. They do need feed in the evening though as they need to go to roost with a crop full of feed to best get through the night once they start producing eggs.