Several feedings per day??

[Dudleyville]

at how many weeks do the chickens go from eating 1900 times a day to just once or twice? and is it better to feed them first thing in the morning or last before turning in?

 

[Mommy2Blaze]

Haha, I was kind of wondering the same thing. Mine want to eat all the time.

 

[hennyannie]

I have always just fed all of my chickens free choice. I fill the feeder up nightly and they eat when they like. Because they eat/drink small amounts at a time, I think it helps to have it out all the time.

 

[pkw]

For my day old to six week old chicks I keep the feeders filled up. After that I fill the feeders up in the mornings and when they go to in for the night. I have some that doesn't even bother to eat in the mornings. They prefer to eat once a day. It is there if they want it. There is feed left over quite often when it comes to when I put down the night time feed..

 

[ella]

Haha! Yeah, never.

The stronger hens eat first and the weaker ones later. I feed free choice so no one starves.

 

[ella]

I'm sorry, that sounded really female doggy. Didn't mean it that way.

But they really do eat all the time, and the stronger eat first so I've found it's best to leave food out all the time.

Also hens that are producing eggs need an amazing amount of feed to keep up with the production. I always think of them as high performance machines so they need high octane fuel. They're not like cats and dogs that can have one or two big meals and be good for the day. They naturally eat all the time.

 

[Dingleberry]

Mine are free choice all day.

 

[hennyannie]

My hens binge if they run out of feed during the day.

 

[ChicksterJo]

I've started feeding mine 2-3 times a day. I give them some good grass to nibble on but whenever they see me, they come running because they know I bring them goodies

It's best to have at least some feed in the feeder so no one goes hungry throughout the day, especially if your birds aren't free ranging.

 

[GarlicEater]

I've got pellets in the feeder all the time. Just like having water for them all the time.

Then, treats whenever I've got 'em, I always come up with something.... got some milk that needs using up before it turns sour, make "chicken muesli" which just means taking a bunch of that and dumping some rolled oats in and letting it soak, then giving it to them. Got some of chose nuclear-orange crackers with peanut butter in between, those used to be really good but I got a bunch from the dollar store and they're Meh, ok. So I've been using those up, 1-2 packages a day, the chickens think they're ... Meh, ok. Leftovers from a meal, fat trimmings from meat, leftovers from a restaurant, etc. I always come up with something. Then they get greens, today I cut up a bunch of "black medic" I pulled up, they got that and a bunch of earthworms that turned out to be living among the "black medic" roots. Then later I hoed a row in the corn field and found some wild lettuce, so they got that too.

It just seems there's always something extra.