To much food?

[J99]

i have a total of 30 chickens from 5 to 7 weeks old and four ducks , they’ve always been good eaters especially the ducks but now I’m feeding them house food vegetables, hotdogs, vegetation from my garden and grit and still going thru a fifty pound bag of grower feed in less then a week and it’s getting worse I don’t expect this bag to last five days
Should I be monitoring this? I have two baby feeders in the night time coop a giant trashcan lid looking thing a long fence feeder and another two quart feeder in the outside run they will almost empty them all by four o’clock and I have to refill them all sometimes needing more food by about seven before bedtime

 

[Folly's place]

Your birds need their balanced feed free choice; they are growing and won't overeat the good stuff. As long as you aren't also feeding rodents, or whatever, keep the feeders full.
Extra goodies in moderation! Hot dogs? Maybe not!
Make sure every bag of feed is fresh, by the mill date on the bag. Use it up before it's eight weeks old from the mill date.
Mary

 

[Rlmp817]

That's just about right on the feed lb per bird per day. They are still young, and growing at an alarming rate.

Do they eat all of the extras? Mine didn't start really eating the scraps until they were a bit older, maybe 8-10 weeks, just because they didn't know what to do with it.

If you are able to free range them that could help, also fermenting food has helped a lot of BYC friends lower their food costs.
I am hoping to get a micro green/sod system set up for this fall to help lower the food bill for us.
Just a few extra options that might help you out.