How to feed 12 on/12 off?

[kriskirkland]

I'm a tad confused here. With our meaties (Cornish x) the consensus seems to be to only let them eat 12 on and 12 off. Does this mean they should have 12 hours of continuous feed? They currently use a 24" trough feeder from the feed store, and currently we fill it completely up once a day as we change te water and shavings. The feeder is always empty. The feeder is always empty by first thing in the morning when I let the dogs out (we feed them at night). Should I be refilling the feeder so they constantly have food for 12 hours straight? Or would just feeding them twice a day be sufficient? I just want to make sure there going to grow enough before our freezer filling weekend.
I apologize as this probably seems a bit of a stupid question!

 

[Elke Beck]

As long as your CX are not allowed to stuff themselves 24/7, you should be fine. I did not do 12 on/12 off, I just fed in the morning and let them clean up the feeder over the next 10 - 12 hours, then filled up again when I got home from work and let them eat until it got dark. They usually had the feeder empty by the time I got out to refill it at about 7:00. Mine did fine, and they grew very fast.

 

[BCMaraniac]

As long as your CX are not allowed to stuff themselves 24/7, you should be fine. I did not do 12 on/12 off, I just fed in the morning and let them clean up the feeder over the next 10 - 12 hours, then filled up again when I got home from work and let them eat until it got dark. They usually had the feeder empty by the time I got out to refill it at about 7:00. Mine did fine, and they grew very fast.

That is what I did. I gave mine enough feed that I knew they would run out during the night(they will literally lay by the feeder and eat all night if you leave enough feed out). I fed about 9 am, and if their feeder was empty when I checked them in late afternoon, I would give them a little more, to get them to midnight or so before they ran out. I guess mine probably were without food 8 hours or so.

 

[Tabasco Jack]

Here's a chart that I use as a guide for feeding. after I go to the 12 on/12 off, I give them this amount of feed in the morning. If it's gone by afternoon, I'll increase it a bit. If there's feed left in the evening, I'll decrease it.