My flock is mostly young Barred Rock hens which have just started laying. My problem is that they waste a very large amount of food. As an example, Yesterday I filled their empty feeder. This morning it was half empty with several lbs of feed on the ground. This did not happen with my older hens, just as the young'uns got older it has gotten bad. They "free range" during the day in a 1 acre pasture so I'm sure they are getting plenty of food. I thought it might be rats scratching it out but I have waged war on rats for years and see no signs of them I'm to the point where I may only put the feeder in for a couple hours in the evening then take it away until tomorrow evening.
Feed waste can be a huge expense!
Also it's definitely a huge rodent attractant.. even if you collect feed every night they'll come for "shrapnel" left behind. I too have battled them. Their signs (in nature, not pets) seem more subtle than huge amounts of feed waste, at least in MY experience.
What sort of feeder and feed are you using and how's it situated? Can you post pics?
Raising feeder to be level with their back, if not already done, can help reduce waste.
I used to ferment but it changed nothing as
waste wasn't an issue for my flock at the time and wasted a whole bunch of my time. It also didn't improve health or any of the other magic claims after doing full time for 82 birds for 2 years. It was fun enrichment experience that caused no noticeable harm. I do still wet the feed into a moist mash for my much smaller current flock of only 4, as that was shown beneficial (in studies), it's not doing anything to change the composition of my already expertly formulated well balanced ration, and the birds don't seem to mind. It also reduced waste heavily for chicks in the brooder. My happy medium is more like thick oatmeal, not soupy as the birds don't like that but not crumbly like a graham cracker crust before pressing either as that's still too easy and enticing to bill through and hunk out in large chunks. One nice thing is with varying personalities one makes a mess (very minimal now due to set up) and another one seems to enjoy picking up the splatters.
My birds.. do the opposite of the first poster in that they waste pellets but not crumbles.. so as you're seeing/experiencing.. each flock can vary.
Type of feed can also exacerbate this issue.. example is if your feeding pretty non- pelleted feed.. lots of billing out for specific pieces (like corn or sunflower seeds, etc) can be part of the issue.
And I swear sometimes it's even just an individual bird.. so often easily identified and too many times either my favorite or least favorite of the group.
So one thought.. is put the feed out in the morning for a period.. instead of before bed.. That way the fill up with the formulated ration first, then remove it earlier so they can clean up what's left behind through out the day. I agree collecting or otherwise securing feeders for dark hours is still highly important since chickens don't feed in the dark.
Since collecting and feeding daily.. in order to keep rodent populations in check, also not attract raccoon and the like.. NO reason to add any extra pounds of feed.. each bird should not be consuming more than *about* 1/4 # per day, with slight variation depending on feed type, weather pattern, pasture conditions, etc. With my current bowl type.. fuller is more waste.. just from the standard feeding motion. In other words taller sides or less feed made a huge difference. Some feeders have lips on the inside, which have also been helpful to squelch waste.
Hope this helps with some ideas!
