Should I be concerned please help

[MarieCallandar]

Yesterday I filled up my chicken feeder. It is a makeshift feeder that holds about a gallon and a half of food that dispenses through out the week. I have 8 chickens and this set up usually lasts me 4 days until I need to fill it again. But I came out today and saw that the gallon and a half had been eaten in one day the dispenser had some oyster shells in it so that they could recirce calcium through out the week. Should I be concerned they are this much over night. ( due note that there were a lot of fire works going of last night because of Utah things and maybe that has something to do with it.) please help

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Unless your have lights on, chickens don't eat at night so something else ate the feed.

 

[MarieCallandar]

This may seem pretentious, but I am certain nothing else ate the food because I have not had a problem with pests perviously and it is unlikely because I checked for indications of pests like poop etc and nothing turned up.

 

[MarieCallandar]

I guess what I'm trying to ask is if the chikens ate it all could there be negative consequences for them

 

[the chickflick]

they could become fat. this causes a high chance for prolapse and heat strokes. i am sure something ate it. but that something was not a chiken. we had something that stole our eggs with no signs of it.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Unless your have lights on, chickens don't eat at night so something else ate the feed.

X2. Unless your coop is lit up like day all night long your chickens did not clean up all that food overnight. Adult birds go to sleep on the roost and stay that way until morning.

Unless your coop is Fort Knox with no tiny opening anywhere at all something can get in and eat their food. I know for a fact that I have the occasional mice and rats in my barn and I am always working to stay on top of that with traps, but I never, ever see any visible trace of them. No poop or anything else. But I know they are there because they show up in my traps.

 

[gander007]

My chickens can see lights in the distance well 5 miles away and if I do not lock them up at night in a super dark place they will eat all night and my free range birds have become rather large doing this and the light is not all that bright as it light comes from a factory that is big enough to need a train to move it's minerals down to the big city some 3 hours drive to the south ... So how much light do you have around you as we do not have a full moon right now .... ????

 

[Papas Chickens]

X2.  Unless your coop is lit up like day all night long your chickens did not clean up all that food overnight.  Adult birds go to sleep on the roost and stay that way until morning.  

Unless your coop is Fort Knox with no tiny opening anywhere at all something can get in and eat their food.  I know for a fact that I have the occasional mice and rats in my barn and I am always working to stay on top of that with traps, but I never, ever see any visible trace of them.  No poop or anything else. But I know they are there because they show up in my traps.

X3 I use to have wild pigeons and doves come in and eat my girls food at night because my girls wouldnt let them during the day but I covered my run with chicken wire to keep them out. I also have kangaroo rats eating my girls food but they dont take much so I dont mind sharin lol.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I've never had a chicken come off the roost at night to eat. They're on the roost at dusk and at dawn. If they come down during the night, they can't find their way back up in the dark.

 

[gander007]

I've never had a chicken come off the roost at night to eat. They're on the roost at dusk and at dawn. If they come down during the night, they can't find their way back up in the dark.

Then you are luck to have it so nice and dark I know there is very little darkness where I live but I know I have a large factory that keeps most of the area here where I am lit most of the night and I do not need a flash light unless I am looking for a predator to whack .......

And I also have a bug zapper on the front porch some of the chicks like to sit under to get the bones treats that fall after the loud zap .....