how quickly should 11 chickens be going through a bag of scratch feed?

[schmamy]

We've just started buying our chickens scratch now that the weather has gotten cold. I'm wondering how much they really should be getting. I know it's a treat. I bought a 50# bag on 11/8 and our friends needed a new one already this week (we don't have chickens at our house--friends of ours have them and we help with the costs and some of the work). Is that reasonable, or did they give the chickens way too much scratch in a little over a month?

 

[TeriS]

That is a very reasonable amount- Our 12 chickens are going through a 40 lb. bag about every 10-14 days or so....They eat more than you think!

 

[TeriS]

Never mind- that is for FEED, not scratch.........LOL......

 

[Fred's Hens]

That's a little shy of 2 lbs of scratch a day. For less than a dozen birds, that is substantial. By my quick math, (subject to review) it seems your friend is feeding them 50/50 feed to scratch. There little harm done, but if you wish to have that ratio be different, you should discuss it with your friend. It would be helpful if you would state how much feed those 11 birds went through in that same 30 days. Was 50 lbs of feed also fed during that period?

 

[jmagill]

I have 15 chickens. A 50 # bag lasts me a couple of months. Its a treat not regular feed. Some people get all exited with feeding scratch to chickens at first. They come running and it's fun. I find if I feed too much scratch, the egg laying slows down.

 

[VelvettFog]

I feed scratch once a day in the winter. I toss it out on the ground for them. I don't give more than they can clean up in about 15 minutes. This equates to a nice afternoon snack, that gives them a few extra calories for the cold night ahead.


Fog

 

[1muttsfan]

I have 16 birds and they get 2 handfuls a day scattered around. A bag lasts me several months.

Overfeeding scratch decreases protein intake, which can lead to decreased egg production.

 

[schmamy]

they went through about two 50# bags of feed in that time.

interestingly, my friend thinks egg production has gone *up* since we started giving scratch (it had gone down for a while when the weather got colder)...

 

[Ole rooster]

For my 8 the amount fed stays right around a lb a day. They stay out all day and normally come it for water and get after the pellets while they are at the water. So a fifty lb bag of layer pellets last me 2 month for sure. The scratch last about 3 months. I use the scratch more as an enticement as apposed to a feed. I throw out about 2 hand fulls for them to dig around after. They will come back to dig some more in the same spot at least 3 times during the day to dig some more. It has the millet in it and they do love that stuff.

 

[schmamy]

Quote:
Wow - that's a LOT less feed than our friends are using. The chickens are free to be out in the yard all day, but I believe they're just leaving feed available in the coop. Is that a bad idea? How do you know how much they need and whether they are getting enough from what's available out in the yard?