Is it normal for my 12 hens to only go through 35lbs of feed a month..?

[ShrekDawg]

I went and dug down a bit in the compost mix and saw some interesting bugs in there. I don’t know why I never noticed how many are in there. Our climate is pretty mild so there are lots of bugs around year round. This past fall we had thousands of purslane caterpillars on our property that the chickens went absolutely crazy for and I noticed that they ate even less feed (I gave them buckets of fallen leaves and the caterpillars mixed together, they all had splattered green on their faces, which was gross but they were happy lol). Definitely viewing my situation as lucky now since all my girls are healthy!

Sounds like you found the reasoning then lol that’s awesome!! You are definitely lucky

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Sounds like you found the reasoning then lol that’s awesome!! You are definitely lucky

Yup! I didn’t think there’d be so much life in the soil in a stagnant yard with 12 birds. There will be 20 (the max amount I am keeping) in the yard come early summer so we’ll see how much feed they go through at that point compared to other flocks of 20. I’ll probably just add even more materials more often to the yard with that many chickens.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yup! I didn’t think there’d be so much life in the soil in a stagnant yard with 12 birds. There will be 20 (the max amount I am keeping) in the yard come early summer so we’ll see how much feed they go through at that point compared to other flocks of 20. I’ll probably just add even more materials more often to the yard with that many chickens.

That will be interesting for sure! And I would definitely keep adding more materials. Give them stuff to dig through and stay busy

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

That will be interesting for sure! And I would definitely keep adding more materials. Give them stuff to dig through and stay busy

I can give an update on the feed consumption once the new chicks i'm picking up in April are full grown laying hens to see if the deep litter compost system in the run is providing a lot of food still!

 

[ShrekDawg]

I can give an update on the feed consumption once the new chicks i'm picking up in April are full grown laying hens to see if the deep litter compost system in the run is providing a lot of food still!

Awesome!

 

[Morrigan]

I feed scratch and peck grub layer pellets.

This is a pretty high quality feed. I heard people on this forum talk about how much more feed their chickens ate when on a cheaper brand. The thinking was that chickens had to eat more of a lower quality brand in order to meet their basic nutritionally requirements.

Keep on doing what your are doing. It seems to be working out well for your chickens.

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

This is a pretty high quality feed. I heard people on this forum talk about how much more feed their chickens ate when on a cheaper brand. The thinking was that chickens had to eat more of a lower quality brand in order to meet their basic nutritionally requirements.

Keep on doing what your are doing. It seems to be working out well for your chickens.

I was thinking that could be a factor as well. I used to feed Grubbly farms crumble grub feed which is a direct competitor (in terms of quality and price) to scratch and peck and the chickens went through the same amount in a month as they do with this feed. I switched to scratch and peck after they came out with their grub pellets because I could get it at a local feed store for cheaper than buying the other brand online. My aunt who has the same amount of chickens as me (mix of bantams and standards too) goes through double the amount of feed that I do, she uses either Purina or Producers Pride from TS.

 

[laboroflove]

It could definitely be the compost! Lots of goodies in there. Both bugs and maybe scraps? I wouldn’t worry about it. Another thing too is that some flocks may be having rodent issues and/or birds wasting food/tossing it out of the feeders so that could all contribute too. We went through TONS of food till I got the rat problem under control. So I’d count it lucky that they go through so little food.

Yeah, that’s a problem we are having…rats I have bait out but they aren’t eating it. They would rather chew through my feed bins (plastic trash cans) than eat the easily accessible bait. I was told another kind to try, so I’m picking it up today hopefully at the feed store.

We go through 100 lbs easy a month for just 12 hens….and rats

 

[laboroflove]

I went and dug down a bit in the compost mix and saw some interesting bugs in there. I don’t know why I never noticed how many are in there. Our climate is pretty mild so there are lots of bugs around year round. This past fall we had thousands of purslane caterpillars on our property that the chickens went absolutely crazy for and I noticed that they ate even less feed (I gave them buckets of fallen leaves and the caterpillars mixed together, they all had splattered green on their faces, which was gross but they were happy lol). Definitely viewing my situation as lucky now since all my girls are healthy!

You are very blessed!!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yeah, that’s a problem we are having…rats I have bait out but they aren’t eating it. They would rather chew through my feed bins (plastic trash cans) than eat the easily accessible bait. I was told another kind to try, so I’m picking it up today hopefully at the feed store.

We go through 100 lbs easy a month for just 12 hens….and rats

Holy moly that’s a lot of feed! good luck getting them under control!