My girls are 20 weeks old I don't think they are eating a lot at all.

[Cindy in PA]

I never understood the 3/4 cup statement. Crumbles & pellets are going to weigh a different amount, so a cup of pellets is a different amount than a cup of crumbles. Case in point, my feed barrel can fit 100 lbs. of crumble, but only about 70-80 lbs. of pellets. I have always seen it stated that a hen will eat ,25 - .33 lb. of feed per day on average depending on size. Cup measurements do not enter into it.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

I never understood the 3/4 cup statement. Crumbles & pellets are going to weigh a different amount, so a cup of pellets is a different amount than a cup of crumbles. Case in point, my feed barrel can fit 100 lbs. of crumble, but only about 70-80 lbs. of pellets. I have always seen it stated that a hen will eat ,25 - .33 lb. of feed per day on average depending on size. Cup measurements do not enter into it.

Maybe she was just using the terminology as the cup not so much as an exact measurement in weight but a way for us to see what our birds were eating in how we were placing it in our feeding systems? I don’t know. Like I feed mine with two dish style cups because I only have nine birds and I like to keep moving mine around and to keep it mounted up higher from off the ground since I have such problems with fire ants here where I live. I also like to be able to move the said cup system based on times of the year to different locations in the run out of the direction of the sun to keep it out of the heat. I am again just guessing.

 

[NatJ]

I never understood the 3/4 cup statement. Crumbles & pellets are going to weigh a different amount, so a cup of pellets is a different amount than a cup of crumbles. Case in point, my feed barrel can fit 100 lbs. of crumble, but only about 70-80 lbs. of pellets. I have always seen it stated that a hen will eat ,25 - .33 lb. of feed per day on average depending on size. Cup measurements do not enter into it.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/figured-out-how-many-cups-of-feed-equals-one-pound.673097/

Someone weighed/measured one specific kind of chicken food. Neither 1/4 pound nor 3/4 cup is going to be exactly right for all chickens, but both give someone a starting point.

People with no chicken experience may think their chickens are eating way too much or way too little, and this helps them get somewhere close to the right amount.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/figured-out-how-many-cups-of-feed-equals-one-pound.673097/

Someone weighed/measured one specific kind of chicken food. Neither 1/4 pound nor 3/4 cup is going to be exactly right for all chickens, but both give someone a starting point.

People with no chicken experience may think their chickens are eating way too much or way too little, and this helps them get somewhere close to the right amount.

Agreed. I have porker Orpingtons and other piglets I think and they really can’t come close to handling 3/4 cup of food a day at 20 weeks.

 

[NatJ]

Agreed. I have porker Orpingtons and other piglets I think and they really can’t come close to handling 3/4 cup of food a day at 20 weeks.

I think their food needs keep changing--more as they get bigger, less as they grow slower or quit growing, more when they are laying eggs. Also modified by the size of the individual chicken: some can weigh over 12 pounds, others under 2 pounds, many are in-between.

 

[Teresa D]

Aren’t we all learning for sure. We need to everyday. They still have quite a bit of growing yet I would guess. I cut mine back to half today and they wasted nada!

I have done the same thing. So I'm starting to keep track of how much I feed them and I think that they still are young as they mature they will increase I'm sure.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

I think their food needs keep changing--more as they get bigger, less as they grow slower or quit growing, more when they are laying eggs. Also modified by the size of the individual chicken: some can weigh over 12 pounds, others under 2 pounds, many are in-between.

My fear is just that mainly you know that with the developing pecking order and with my area having had to deal with so much excessive heat that I didn’t want to miss any kind of health issue or food bullying that was keeping a hen from getting enough food or not enough nutrients in these critical stages of development. With me being a newbie and all these issues in play I didn’t want to mess up on something so easy maybe for some but yet so detrimental to their health at this time. I maybe just paranoid. I just love my animals a lot no matter if it’s my dog or my livestock as a chicken. I raised them in my house due to the heat and it being so bad and as a first timer and our heavy predator load. Our parasites here can be a huge contributor too if we aren’t on top of things. I have read and read and gone to other farms and observed and helped for years and talked to fellow vets and friends to learn. All before I took the leap. I don’t like putting animals in harms way due to personal ignorance or laziness because I didn’t ask or research. Ya know?

 

[NatJ]

My fear is just that mainly you know that with the developing pecking order and with my area having had to deal with so much excessive heat that I didn’t want to miss any kind of health issue or food bullying that was keeping a hen from getting enough food or not enough nutrients in these critical stages of development.

Yes, it is good to think about things like that.

If you have feed and water in several places, then bullying is less likely to cause under-eating.

Other than that, chickens are usually pretty good at getting the right amount.

If they seem active and healthy, and have been growing appropriately for their breed, then they are probably getting the right amount to eat.

Edit: forgot a word in the first sentence. Completely changes the meaning.

 

[thepick4uchicks]

Yes, it is good to think about things like that.

If you have feed and water in several places, then bullying is likely to cause under-eating.

Other than that, chickens are usually pretty good at getting the right amount.

If they seem active and healthy, and have been growing appropriately for their breed, then they are probably getting the right amount to eat.

If you have feed and water in several places, then bullying is likely to cause under-eating.
So....placing feeders in more locations impacts bullying to cause under eating? I would think if you had feed in a variety of locations in a run if they don’t free range that it would give chickens more areas to split off and have more opportunities to eat away from one another? I as usual am not following you NatJ. Sorry. I only have nine birds so I don’t feed in the coop anyway but I just feed in one location in the run with a mounted cup system- fire ants and I use two large cups with them on one post basically side by side about a foot or so apart. WyorpRock gave me the idea on how to feed my birds based on a similar way but not the exact way that she uses cups to feed some of her birds. Picture attached.

 

[NatJ]

If you have feed and water in several places, then bullying is LESS likely to cause under-eating.

Oh, um, oops.

I missed the most important word--just stuck it in. (capitalized in the quoted bit)

I meant multiple feed/water stations means that even the ones being bullied have places to eat. But leaving out a word made the meaning backwards.