obviously i know giving chickens kitchen scraps will reduce the amount of chicken feed given...but my question is, is there a rule of thumb conversion? so if i give a pound of scraps does that typically equal a certain reduction in the amount of feed i should give? pound for pound? more/less? thanks
Less. Most of the kitchen scraps you feed will have very high water content (fruits and vegetables) so right off the top, they aren't getting anymore nutrients out of the treats just added water. Don't put out less feed. They will eat less but let them determine how much less. If it's cold where you are, they naturally will eat more to keep their body heat up.
I just eyeball how much I need to feed based on how much is left in the feeder. I'm not a really precise person, so don't measure or anything. Some days my flock gets no scraps, some days--salsa making days, clean out the fridge days, things like that--they get several pounds of scraps. I don't really worry about how it affects their feed intake, if there's a lot of feed left when I go out the next day, I just add less.
