Starving? Really?

[satiglenn]

My five little nuggets are 6 weeks old. They're full-time outside, but they only go into their coop to sleep or get out of the weather. From first thing in the morning until bedtime, they free-range on an almost-acre of grass, weeds, clover, and a veggie garden that they LOVE to play in. Plenty of greens, plenty of bugs. But every time I go outside, they flock to me chirping loudly like they're starving. Now I have SEEN them eat bugs (ants are their favorite, but they dig up worms and even eat the little beetles off of the veggie plants.) I watch them eat grass and clover. Is it really necessary for me to feed them a pile of bagged chick feed every single time I go out? One of the reasons they are free-range is so we can save some money, but I want to make sure they're getting everything they need. I don't want to starve them :O

How often do you "feed" your free-range older babies?

 

[Stiggy]

I always like to offer them food and have a feeder so they can help themselves as they please. especially as they are growing and thus need more protein and bits and pieces so that they can grow up to be strong ( think how children grow and need food) my chickens are now pullets and the hens are older as it is winter here so I don't have any babies at this point but they free range and have constant access to food which keeps them happy. otherwise feeding them once in the morning and once at about 2-4 pm works, just make sure they get plenty to keep them going

 

[KuroKitsune]

my girls who ages range from 4 weeks to almost a year always have access to feed. the 4 week olds have their little feeder full of crumbles and the 4 month old and nearly year old pullets and hens have a big feeder full of all flock pellets to snack on throughout the day if they want to while free ranging.


but like Stiggy said you could feed them a certain amount twice day if you dont want to leave a feeder full out for them

 

[Stiggy]

I agree with @KuroKitsune . also if they have access when ever and you get called away, miss a feed or are ill then you know that they have food and you don't have to worry as much, for that reason also, my chickens have at least 2 water dishes so that I know if its a 35 degree day here that they have water even when I'm out. giving them extra in winter is also important

 

[satiglenn]

Okay, that's what I wanted to know: twice a day, roughly. I don't have "free access to food all day" because feeding them is how we get them into the coop in the evenings. We're usually ready to put them up before it's all the way dark (it's the beginning of summer here, so it doesn't get full dark until around nine o'clock.) Like just a minute ago, we went out to go ahead and put them up, and they're not ready. I have no interest in chasing them all over the yard and bringing them down one or two at a time, lol. They didn't want to come because I fed them the LAST time I went out, about an hour ago.

I think I just need more experience, and training for them. But how do you train them to go up? Just wait until they're ready? Ugh.

 

[Stiggy]

Ive never used food to get them inside. mine just automatically go into their house, after a few days ( we moved recently) they worked out that it was their house and that's where they slept and they just go in and out when they please and I just shut them in at night and when its pouring with rain ( winter here) if they do just sit around outside the house you just need to keep putting them back inside till they get the hang of it.

 

[SuperClucker]

Okay, that's what I wanted to know: twice a day, roughly. I don't have "free access to food all day" because feeding them is how we get them into the coop in the evenings. We're usually ready to put them up before it's all the way dark (it's the beginning of summer here, so it doesn't get full dark until around nine o'clock.) Like just a minute ago, we went out to go ahead and put them up, and they're not ready. I have no interest in chasing them all over the yard and bringing them down one or two at a time, lol. They didn't want to come because I fed them the LAST time I went out, about an hour ago.

I think I just need more experience, and training for them. But how do you train them to go up? Just wait until they're ready? Ugh.

We don't free range, but ours spend their days in a large run. They have free access to chicken food and get fresh veggies daily. To "train" them to go into the brooder / hen house at bedtime, we started offering their favorite treat (fresh fruit) in the brooder at bedtime while saying "bedtime" in a sing-song voice over and over. I actually have a very cute video of putting them to bed. We did this at the same time (8pm) for a couple weeks and now they just put themselves to bed at 8pm whether we are home or not and will run to the brooder if we say 'bedtime" no matter the time of day / evening.

 

[bustedchicks]

I have 30; 28chickens 2 BBtturkeys. They get scratch in the morning when I let them out. usually the scratch gets tossed to areas in need of weeding. They get fed every other day or a the most on the 4th day. Usually by the 4th day if no food they will not leave my side untill some kind of food is laid down. Thats time to feed.

If I dont thow down scratch in the morning they hunt thru areas where I have had scratch. The coop gets picked clean and there is little waste of food.

Feed em less and it forces them to forage more.

 

[Stiggy]

@bustedchicks that maybe so but these are young chicks so they will need more food so grow etc. But whatever works for you, personally we don't have enough bugs for them to just eat bugs etc, and I cant say mine waste much food at all, they always eat 99% of it and they are never hungry. I don't believe in letting animals go hungry, just like kids .

 

[subhanalah]

If you are looking to reduce cost and increase the benefits of the formulated feed you offer, I recommend fermenting your pellets/crumbles/grains/whatever.....
http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/