Why are their stomachs like bottomless pits?

[DeepDishChix]

They dont have a feeder, I just give them their food on the floor. I see them attacking the food and scratching it around with their feet. They are EE's, and they're pretty small. Thanks for all the reply's!

 

[chicklover 1998]

My two smaller chickens I have in a separate cage are eating soooooo much!!! I've already given about 5 cups of layer feed and theyre still hungry. I also gave them scratch and black oil sunflower seeds for protein. They have water. So why are they so HUNGRY?

scratch doesn't have much protein usually under 10% so like percheron chick said they could be making up for that protein because anytime you add something lower in protein to their diet it lowers the total protein in their food, scratch is also used mainly as a treat and should not be used for more than 10% of their feed.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

I bet you have rodents eating the feeds. Five cups of feed is a lot of feed for a chicken, even for the dual purpose breed.

 

[Percheron chick]

I bet you have rodents eating the feeds.  Five cups of feed is a lot of feed for a chicken, even for the dual purpose breed.

5 cups is only about 30 oz. 30 oz is only 2.5 oz per hen. Unless they're free ranging that's not enough. You are wasting alot dumping it on the ground. You don't need a chicken feeder but put it in something. I use dog bowls and (horse) 3 gal feed pans.

 

[penchick]

Have they been wormed??

 

[Chickenchick11]

http://www.amazon.com/4227-10-Pound...qid=1454954795&sr=8-8&keywords=chicken+feeder

You can get a fairly nice plastic poultry feeder like this for under $20 on Amazon.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/713334/growing-fodder-for-chickens

Since you feel like your birds are going through to much feed, maybe you could try growing some fodder for them? If done correctly it will cut down on their feed consumption, and is very heathy for them.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

OP said 2 hens, 5 cups is unrealistic for two hens.

 

[penchick]

Hi, have you wormed them?? Do they seem out of condition? Drab feathers? Listless? Worming them could be the answer. I feed my flock 3 x a day, little and often. This enables them to clear any food leaving no leftovers for potential pests. You might consider traps incase you do have rodents' stealing food. Hope you get this problem sorted soon.

 

[DeepDishChix]

We did have a rodent problem with rats climbing in the trees and they were eating the leftover feed at night. We have already killed them all off, so it's not rodents. I'm pretty sure they don't have worms. There is some scratch scattered around in front of their cage that they can't get to. Maybe they want to eat that? They have gotten better, but whenever I walk past they run back and forth. Sometime they even have extra food on the floor.

 

[blucoondawg]

They associate people with food, they're going to do that no matter if they're hungry or not much like a begging dog. I would free feed with a full feeder of some sort in a area where rodents aren't likely to bother it and see how they do after a couple days of that