They have devoured 50#'s of feed in 5 days!!!

[A.T. Hagan]

Roughly four hundred pounds of feed every two weeks.

.....Alan.

 

[Warthog]

I have 40 red sex links, 11 laying, 10 due to start laying around end of this month, and 19 due to lay around early may.

They go through 150lb food a month with approx. 50 lb of cracked corn as scratch.

I do limit what I put in each morning, I found that if I put to much in they don't want to go out and free- range, so I limit it and out they go, they get anywhere from 8 - 10 hours free ranging each day, when I bring them back in, in the evenings they get more food. Healthy hens/chicks, no wasted food.

They get scraps from the kitchen now and again, but I usually give this in the evening, otherwise they wouldn't want to go out.

It seems to work.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

I have 4 hen houses....not large ones...1 house holds 6 Mille Fleur bantam D'Uccles, 1 has 11 salmon Favs.standard, 1 has 4 EE's standard and 2light brahmas, and 1 has 7 partridge cochins,standard. they each have a 25-40 lb feeder and I go through a total of about 5-6 50# bags a month, of the pellets. are you feeding layer crubles or pellets? when i was using crubles I would go through a LOT more because the chickens would put their beeks in it and knock most of it on the ground....I also have another hen house with a peacock and 3 ameraucaunas that I put their food in a big dish.

 

[slewis]

Quote:
Is there a local grocery store when you can ask for the produce they throw out? That is what we do, and everyday is just like Christmas for the chickens!

 

[briteday]

You guys need to seriously look for rodent or wild bird issues, with stealing your food. I have 20 egglaying, mostly heavy breed, birds. And 50# lasts me 3+ weeks. They are outside all day but only have sagebrush and dirt to eat out there! They may get a handful of kitchen scraps or a fistful of cat food daily if I'm feeling generous. And these birds have pellets available 24/7, I don't limit their intake. During the winter I buy one 50# bag of corn and it lasts for about 6 months of special treats.

 

[jeaucamom]

We had about 55 standards, all varieties last year and we went through 3 50 pounders a week easy. I had to buy 6 every 2 weeks and I am sad to say that once in a while they were eating bugs and oatmeal on that last day before payday.... They really are little pigs!!

 

[Tala]

A standard hen should eat 1/4lb of feed per day.
So multiply 0.25 x number of birds x 7 days = how much pounds per week you should need.
Of course it varies slightly by the type of chicken and weather (heavier breeds eat more than Leghorns, the birds eat more in the winter, etc.) but it should give you an idea. If they are "eating" much more than 0.25lb per day you should really consider a rodent or wild bird problem.

 

[Beekissed]

This does sound excessive...you may have a rodent problem as suggested before. I have 25 heavy breed birds who free range but, even when they couldn't due to deep snows this winter, they only consume 50 lbs of feed over about a month's time. Sometimes even longer.

BOs will eat an enormous amount of feed compared to their egg laying output, which is one of the reasons I culled them from my flock. While processing, I discovered they had WAY more fat deposits than the other birds fed the same type of feed. They were covered in fat...it was disgusting. And it also explained why my feed bill went down when I culled them from the flock.

Try a different breed of chicken, only feed once a day and monitor intake. If they are leaving feed, you are feeding too much and this is a dinner bell for rodents. If they are cleaning up their feed, increase portions until they are leaving only minimal leftovers.

 

[hollyandty]

I have about 70 Buff Orps and I get 200 pounds of 20% layer and 50 pounds of scratch every other week. I feed kitchen scraps and popcorn

every day. Right now my eggs are costing me about 31 cents each. I hope that goes down when my 30 pullets start laying in May. I am lucky to get 18 - 20 eggs per day. The one good thing is the eggs I am getting are fertile and I have a pretty good hatch rate.

My daughter has 16 D Uccles and doesn't even go through 50 pounds in 2 weeks.