my free range girls always seem to be starving?

[MzBalance]

I have two rhode island reds and one new hampshire red. I fill their feeder as I let them out mid morning. They free range my yard (approx. 1 acre with woods line) in the burbs all day. I fill the feeder again late afternoon and they will end up back in their coop at the end of the day and I lock 'em in for the night. It always seems that they run to me expecting food ALL the time and when I feed them they seem to attack the feeder. Am I not feeding them enough? They are about almost 4 months old with no eggs yet.
Please let me know. They seem healthy and happy and are growing big - but, I hope they're getting enough food.
Thanks,
Sharon

 

[Bev in Nevada]

I think that is just a chicken thing !!! I have four 1 yr old RIR's and four 1 yr old PBR's. I have two four pound feeders out and two 6 gallons waterers out, plus they free range all day.
I check them twice a day and each time, the ladies rush the gate as if they haven't eaten in days!

 

[donrae]

It's mostly a conditioned response. But just in case, do they finish all the food you put out at once? Like, is it gone within an hour? If that's the case, they may need more food. But most of the time, they're just used to bugging us.

 

[MzBalance]

and Yes ... they finish it clean

 

[BrattishTaz]

I've never seen a chicken that was not hungry.

You may need to worry more about overfeeding than underfeeding.

 

[Animalian]

It could be a breed thing, I have a RIR, a faverolle, a Belgian D'uccle and a Plymouth rock. You'd think the RIR and Plymouth hadn't been fed for days, they rush over and gobble up as much as possible! They are the dominant ones too! The other two don't seem to care, they thoroughly inspect the food before eating like I'm trying to poision them or something!

Unless of course porridge is involved, then the faverolle moves at light speed

 

[Laigaie]

If they're completely emptying your feeder, you may need to increase their feed, yes. Try putting in a little more every day, until they aren't able to eat it all. After a while of not being hungry all the time, they'll start to eat a little less.