Saving Money on Chicken Feed??

[WhitneyG]

Hi - does anyone have any ideas on how to save money on chicken feed? I only have 10 chickens, but I'm starting to go through about one bag of feed a week! They are all hens and lay quite a few eggs, but still - I think it's kind of getting expensive. Any ideas appreciated!!

 

[Naser]

Use pellets and use rodents proof feeder
Also some chicken breeds are lighter on feed than others "leghorns"

 

[matt44644]

I only have 10 chickens, but I'm starting to go through about one bag of feed a week!

What size bag are you buying?

 

[GhettoRoo]

Do u have 15 lbs weighting Jersey Giants?

 

[WhitneyG]

I think 50 lb. bags... and I could let them outside, but I live in MN so everything's dead...

 

[WhitneyG]

Do u have 15 lbs weighting Jersey Giants?

Nope - I have RIR, Silkies, Easter Eggers, Wyandottes, and more...

 

[RR1011]

Im new to chickens and still just reading, but have you seen the posts about growing sprouts for your chickens?

 

[pdirt]

The surest way to reduce feed costs is to feed them twice a day, morning and evening. Have multiple feed stations so everyone gets a chance to eat and only feed as much as they can eat in 20-30 minutes. It will take some trial and error to get the amounts right. But don't have a feeder out 24/7 full of feed. They will waste it and it will attract rodents, which bring disease and eat your feed. You could over feed them in the morning see how much they have left before the evening meal (1-2 hours before they go to roost) and then just feed them less for dinner. If there is any feed leftover when they go to roost, then you know you fed them that much too much.

You could also ferment or moisten their feed. The wet feed will be harder for them to fling around and waste it.

 

[new at chicken]

Do any of you know how much turkey pellets go for and were they sell them at I live in naples.

 

[ChristieB]

Not sure what breed you have but that seems like an excessive amount of feed!
check how your feeders are, hang them if they are on the ground so it's not getting scratched out and rodents can't get to them.
Do you give them kitchen scraps? Any green waste will help stretch their feed, rake any leaves to throw in the run, you said everything is dead but if you had lawn clippings you could throw that in too. If you don't have snow let them out, they will find food anywhere!

I've also seen mention of fermenting feed makes it last longer but I haven't looked into it further and not sure how it all works