My ladies are eating like pigs!!

[Jfrk4ever]

Hi - I have 29 laying hens, almost 2 years old and we have been going through feed like crazy lately! I started buying the Nutrena "Feather Fixer" feed because I had so many going through molt, or just finishing and my eggs were almost non-existent (about 6-8 eggs/day!). They have picked back up on egg-laying (getting about 12-15/day now), but we are going through feed like crazy!! I bought 2 (40 lb) bags on Wed, mixed in some cracked corn and by Sunday they were out of food already! I have been supplementing with table scraps as we are in winter and they HATE going out in the snow -- even bought them a whole head of lettuce as a special treat, along with some cabbage too! Occasionally, they get some fruit and bread scraps too.

Any thoughts?? Does this seem like a LOT of feed in such a short amount of time to y'all??

 

[pdirt]

You might try switching feeders. I haven't used this one as we don't have a waste problem, but lots of people have and enjoy how it works in saving feed for them:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...te-5-gallon-25-feed-bucket-feeder-for-about-3


Or the trigger feeders. They're sold pre-made or BYC member aart has made her own:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-almost-waste-free-funnel-bucket-feeder

 

[aart]

You might try switching feeders. I haven't used this one as we don't have a waste problem, but lots of people have and enjoy how it works in saving feed for them:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...te-5-gallon-25-feed-bucket-feeder-for-about-3


Or the trigger feeders. They're sold pre-made or BYC member aart has made his own:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/aarts-almost-waste-free-funnel-bucket-feeder

Mine (her's

) only holds about a gallon of crumble (don't know how many pounds that is off hand) which is more than my 15 birds eat in 24 hours....... I also feed about a quart of mixed grain scratch on the ground in the run every afternoon an hour or so before roost time. But that feeder has stopped any spillage for sure because of the deep 'bowl' under the trigger in the funnel. The pre-made trigger feeders hold much more feed but don't have the deep bowl.

 

[matt44644]

45- 60 lbs per week is my thought

 

[SunkenRoadFarms]

Do you notice any waste on the ground? I have 15 and am going through 50lvs every 10 days without much supplementation with treats.

 

[Jfrk4ever]

50-60 lbs/week is what we were doing before we headed into about 6 months of molt between all of the birds. My husband & I were just wondering if maybe they were knocking the feed when flying off their roost (it's kind of in the middle of the room, but somewhat in front of the door to the outside. So we might try to move the feeder and see if that makes a difference.....but that is a lot of food!! :/

 

[SunkenRoadFarms]

The rate isn't too high, especially for winter. You should feed it straight, not mixed with corn. They can and do beak out the feed to get to tastier corn.

 

[Jfrk4ever]

ahhhhh....that makes sense re: corn! Thanks! i'll try that and see if it helps.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Likely there is a fair amount of waste going on - either by them beaking feed out of the way to get to choice morsels of corn, shifting of the feeder, a combination of the two, etc. What type of feeder are you using?

 

[Jfrk4ever]

Just checking...are you saying that 80-120 lbs of feed a week is normal for 29 laying hens during the winter?