Keeping flock fed, endless feed or rationing?

[trunkman]

I've wondered how much I should feed my flock whether it be adults, chicks, or adolescents, do I keep a food at the ready, or do I give them a portion each day? I seem to go through lots of feed and was wondering if I'm over feeding.

 

[snowflake]

chickens are grazers, most people keep feed available all day, if they free range they will eat less feed and more grass, bugs, worms ect. If you have meat birds the rule is 12hrs, on 12hrs off, most chickens do not eat at night if it is dark. How many birds do you have? Is the feed inside or out? You may have some thing else helping to eat the feed,Birds,mice ect.

 

[trunkman]

I have 39 birds, no rodents or other creatures eating from the feeders, the feeders are inside. The reason I ask this question is because when I bought my last batch of chicks the person I bought them from took me on a tour of his multiple chicken coops and cages and he was giving them his first feeding of the day and noticed he was only giving them only about a scoop of feed per few chickens. They all seemed very healthy and happy. So it made me think if I was overfeeding for nothing...

 

[briteday]

I used to think that I didn't have a rodent problem...most people who leave feed out 24/7 have at least a few mice in the coop. But they are mostly nocturnal (come out at night) so you don't see them. Since I put mouse traps out last year and found plenty of mice inhabiting the coop I started feeding once per day. Since I leave the house very early in the morning (dark until just recently) I throw the previous day's kitchen scraps out before I leave an open the gate so they can free range most of the day. When I come home at dinner time I give them a measured amount of food (trial and error, give them enough that most of it is gone in 30 minutes) which brings them all back to the run to eat...and I close the gate.

 

[mmaddie's mom]

For me and mine, it depends on the season... lots of foraging in spring, summer and fall... food in the pan in the winter months... more in the morning to get them going and some cracked corn in the evening to keep their little furnaces going during the cold nights... during warmer months just morning scoops. Otherwise they scratch around in it and waste a lot... also don't care to feed the sparrows and the rodents, etc.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Mine get fed just what they can clean up. I can't afford to feed the tweeties and I don't want to encourage mice, so I do not leave food sitting out all the time.

I do not think that your birds will eat less. If feed is on a schedule, you have to fill the birds up and they have to be fed more than once a day. The savings comes from not feeding other critters besides your birds.