My 17 hens are eating 50lbs in less than a day , is this normal ?

[JanetS]

JR79 - Have you been able to figure out what has happened to the feed?? We are all waiting. Lol.

 

[luvmychicken]

WOW! That is a lot of feed. I have 12 hens. I buy 100# of feed a month. and still have a little left over each month... I pour the left over in a bucket to make sure that gets used first. I get 50# of grower crumbles and 50# of hen scratch which runs me bout $35. I mix it together, my girls won't eat pellets at all. As a treat, i will mix in warm water and let the set for about an hour. it swells and it takes them a couple of hours to eat. I have noticed a mouse or 2 but i put out traps in another shed, this is so my dogs don't get into it. I bet most of the the pellets are getting wasted. They will scratch through the feed looking for something else to be in with it. If moisture is getting to the pellets, they fall apart. Reduce the amount of feed you are giving them ALOT!!! or you might have to put them on Jenny Craig for being over weight.

 

[Quyen Le]

Look for rat burrows around your feed area. I found 2 burrows close to my feeding tray but I only spend 7 lbs a day plus bread and grains for all my chickens (40)

 

[Quyen Le]

Found 4 more burrows. Did you check yours? I wonder what is the most effective way to kill rat?

 

[DianaMallory]

DianaMallory I was wondering what kind of feed you use? I'm in Columbus and up here it's slim pickings for different brands.

Home grown poultry feed Layer crumbs. You can get it at any tractor supply store. I get it from my local feed store.

 

[secuono]

You should change how you feed them, especially since you have a problem with mice/rats or other animals eating all the food.
Clean out an area in the coop or in the run, if it's dry. Then pour out 10 cups of feed in a line on the ground. Let the chickens have at it. Stay and see if they eat it all, if they don't give them 8 cups tomorrow. Soon, you'll know how much they will eat, but they can live off less.

To get rid of rats/mice, buy snap traps, either the disposable or the TSC black reuable ones. Get a square bucket or heavy box, cut out a 3in hole along one edge on the bottom side and another in the same area on the other side. Put the box up against the wall with a board on top so the birds cannot knock it over. Use peanut butter with some chicken feed pressed into it on the tongue of the trap. Place trap with the open side against a wall in the box.
If you have a lot of mice/rats or a daily visitor, you will catch it in a day or two.

Do not free feed or leave any feed on the ground/feeder the day before, so the mice/rats will have to go into the box to eat.

 

[DianaMallory]

I don't know how much oatmeal costs but a 40 pound bag of (organic) whole oats is about $8.00 (~20 cents per pound) at the feed store. If you ferment grain you can boost the % of protein to about 18%, not only that the hens will eat about 50% less once the grains are fermented. There are already many thread about fermenting grains here on BYC if you want to lean how to do it.

Just to opposite of you I never feed the hens inside the coop because it attracts vermin. We have all sorts of predators here including a cougar, they visit looking for chickens to eat but I don't think the feed attracts them though we are in the habit of bringing the feed and water inside overnight.

We killed 30 coons last summer, I have seen possums, skunks and hawks. And the feed attracts those predators in. Coyotes and fox are just looking for your birds. I am sure the cost of oats at the feed store was way higher than that. I am paying about 30 cents a pound now.

 

[Chickens R Us]

This past summer I had a chipmunk helping himself to the feed. I'm sure he/she got enough to last all winter.

 

[Urbanchicken62]

I think your chickens are inviting friends over at night for wild parties. Are you finding empty beer bottles, bottle caps, and cigarette butts? Are their eyes bloodshot in the morning?
If not, I vote rats.

 

[DianaMallory]

Found 4 more burrows. Did you check yours? I wonder what is the most effective way to kill rat?

My dh likes to use a 22. But a few good rat traps works wonders.