Is it possible to over feed your chickens?

[phishintrip007]

I haven't added grit yet although I do try to let them free range around in the yard a couple times a week.

 

[subhanalah]

Nevermind, wrong thread

 

[badbird49]

Hi! Just joined Backyard Chickens and HAD to reply! I also have only 4 chickens who go through nearly a 50 lb bag of organic feed every month - it's crazy! The coop is fitted securely with hardware cloth along the bottom and up the sides about a foot, and I bring the feeder inside every evening when it gets dark, so there are no critters getting in and eating the feed. The hens get let out to roam around the yard and pick at vegetation and bugs a few times a week. I've had flocks before but never remember the hens practically gorging themselves on feed like this group.

 

[Beekissed]

But the poster said he was giving them normal feed with occasional treats and was concerned they were eating too much of the feed. This is not possible.

I agree that you can make your chickens fat if you feed them high calory treats like scratch or mealworms on a very frequent basis. This was not what the OP was talking about. I maintain that they will get fat because they are eating the other stuff in stead of their normal rations, not because they are eating too much. It is physically impossible.

Sure it's possible. Why would it be physically impossible for a chicken to overeat? Any animal and even other creatures can overeat to the point of obesity when presented with continuous feed and little else to do, as penned birds are. Bored, no exercise and nothing to do but eat. Yep, they can overeat. Some breeds do this more, some less, some birds within a breed do it more, some less....just like in other creatures and just like us humans.

Ssia really but I have 4 chickens and I'm going through a 50 lb. bag of feed every month. They have a coop with a run and I let them out in the yard on weekends and sometimes for an hour or so after work. I throw any weeds in there for them to eat and they probably get a handful of treats once or twice a week (mealworms usually). I just wonder if I need to feed them a specific amount or is ok to just keep filling the feeder every time it's empty.

On another note, I want to do fermented feed as I have read they poop less and it's better for them. Can I do that with pellets? Wouldn't it just turn to mush?

That's excessive, you are right. It's likely that they are shoveling a lot of that on the ground where the rodents and bugs consume it and it's likely that the rodents are helping themselves at night. You can feed them one meal a day and they will be fine and you will find it easier to control their consumption and keep a handle on food wastes and usage.

You need to visit the large fermented feed threads and ask questions there....there is someone there all the time ready to answer your questions and they are very helpful. You can ferment any kind or type of chicken feed and the pellets do turn to a mush but the chickens love it all the same...it's the same materials as whole grains or mash but just ground more fine. Most who ferment the more processed feeds will mix it to a thick consistency like mortar or peanut butter consistency and it will help reduce feed wastes while giving the birds more nutrition and better overall health.

You will have more success with fermented feeds by feeding them in meals and by using a trough style feeder. It can save you nearly half of what you normally would feed and you get twice the nutrition. It's a win/win.

Overly fat chickens can and will have laying issues, abnormal ovulation and decrease in laying due to enormous fat stores around the internal organs and reproductive system and it's a smart thing to monitor and limit feed intake to a more normal intake if you would have your chickens live a long and productive life.

 

[realsis]

That's EXACTLY what I was trying to say! I completely agree. Of course it's possible.

 

[Cindy in PA]

4 chickens would eat 30-40 lbs per 30 days if they are not getting a lot of extra stuff. The 1/4-1/3 of a lb. is not set in stone. Weather, age of pullet & many other factors figure into the whole equation. Seems everyone thinks chickens are cheap to feed & they are not. The OP said it might actually last 5 weeks & if so, accounting for a small amount of waste, 50 lbs. is right on.

 

[NYcue]

I have four barred rocks and they go through 50lbs of feed a month during the Winter. I let them spend a lot more time out of the run during the summer season and they do a good job foraging food which does cut down on the feed.

Last year a friend of friend setup a new coop with chickens. This person had six chickens but I don't know the type. After a few months a chicken died on him. He sent the chicken to have a type of autopsy to determine cause of death. The results same back that the chicken's liver "exploded" and the likely cause was over-eating. He now does not leave feed in the coop but instead feeds them several times a day. I thought all that sounded crazy to me... even the autopsy. If I had to manually feed my rocks several times a day... I wouldn't have them!!!

 

[fiddlebanshee]

Quote:
This! Chickens CAN get fat. I never stated that they couldn't. But it is not from overeating, it is from getting the wrong kind of feed/treats. If they get a lot of fatty/high calorie things to eat, they'll get fat, just like people. If they eat primarily their regular feed with very moderate treats, they won't. It's as simple as that. Chickens are opportunistic, they will eat the nice high calory treats first, and then they won't have room in their crops for the regular feed that they should be eating.

They do not die from overeating. There are many, many people who feed their chickens free choice (me included) meaning that the chickens have food available 24/7, and who do not have fat chickens. In fact I just harvested 4 roos and they were very skinny.

I should make one caveat probably and that is that meaties actually do overeat. They have been bred to gain weight so much that they don't act like normal chickens anymore.

 

[NYcue]

This! Chickens CAN get fat. I never stated that they couldn't. But it is not from overeating, it is from getting the wrong kind of feed/treats. If they get a lot of fatty/high calorie things to eat, they'll get fat, just like people. If they eat primarily their regular feed with very moderate treats, they won't. It's as simple as that. Chickens are opportunistic, they will eat the nice high calory treats first, and then they won't have room in their crops for the regular feed that they should be eating.

They do not die from overeating. There are many, many people who feed their chickens free choice (me included) meaning that the chickens have food available 24/7, and who do not have fat chickens. In fact I just harvested 4 roos and they were very skinny.

I should make one caveat probably and that is that meaties actually do overeat. They have been bred to gain weight so much that they don't act like normal chickens anymore.

Not sure what you mean by "This!"....

"Chickens CAN get fat. I never stated that they couldn't."... I never mentioned getting fat or anything else like that. Just sharing a story.

regardless... me too... I feed my girls "free choice" as well.... I keep a 30lb feeder in the run filled with Dumor crumbles... My girls look healthy and not too fat.

 

[Beekissed]

Breed, feed given, age, level of exercise....all of these things contribute towards if a bird is overeating or not. Not often you'll be able to just look at some breeds and say they are fat or overly fat....some have feathers that disguise their true body conditioning. Some you wouldn't discover until you have butchered them and discovered their enormous internal fat stores. Some people believe that their hen being "big" or "fluffy" is normal and desired.

Buff Orpingtons are an example of a breed that tends to overeat and store fat around the reproductive system, resulting in prolapse, egg bound issues, internal laying, etc. All of these can result from a bird being too fat. Pendulous crops, sour crops, chronic bumble foot, etc. are also an indication of a bird/flock/breed that is overeating.

Sometimes it has nothing to do with treats or feeding extras, but merely offering free choice feed to a bird or breed that will take advantage of it. Some breeds and birds do fine with free choice and it's never a problem as their metabolism is able to burn it off quickly or they also free range and are able to burn calories in that manner.

The bird pictured below was sharing 1 and 1/5 cups of fermented 50% layer ration and 50% barley with 13 other LF birds per day...that's all they ate per day, just 1 and a half cups to share between all birds. She also free ranged all day on rich pasture and was 6 yrs old at the time she was processed. She's a Plymouth White Rock and has a very good feed conversion and a slow metabolism. Imagine if I were to offer free choice to this breed?












Here's another....fed one meal per day and free ranged on pasture. Layer mash mixed with whole grains. Not sure of this bird's age but definitely over 1 yr of age. She's a Black Australorp......and had fat in places I'd never seen a chicken have. Imagine if she had had a continuous feeder in front of her....she would have never walked out that coop door to look for food.










As for butchering roosters and not finding much fat....roosters don't store fat like a hen does. Most of their nutrition is put into building muscle and, unless it's a capon, they won't store much fat at all. No one is worried about if a rooster gets too fat, though there are some breeds that can indeed become more fat/heavy than they should and it can create problems with breeding. This is why CX birds and turkeys bred for meat have to be artificially inseminated...they grow too heavy to breed effectively.

It's all about the breed, the bird, the environment.

Should a person err on the side of caution and feed in meals only? Yes, I believe they should. The birds will live longer and healthier lives and be more productive for a longer time.