Chicken Food

[richard p]

Hi

My wonderful, amazing, admirable,astonishing, astounding, enjoyable, excellent, extraordinary, fabulous, fantastic, fine, good, grand, incredible, ineffable, lovely, magnificent, marvelous, miraculous, phenomenal, prodigious, sensational daughter has convinced me to get ex-battery hens.
Could someone tell me how much a chicken will eat a day. I looked on google and the first website said 1/4-1/3 of feed a day. I'm a little sceptical and i do not believe that a mole valley 25kilo bag for £7 will last them 50 days [if my maths is up to scratch]

Also does anyone have any ex battery hen who could give any advice in general.

Thanks Richard

[richard p]

the above should read more like

my pesty daughter has a bee in her bonnet about keeping some rescued battery hens, its all ive heard for the last fortnight, theres still 5 weeks till school starts to give me some respite.

can anyone give me some advise on what to feed the xxx things should i give in to pester power. sorting a hutch and run is no real problem or should we just turn them free range and hope the fox visits

[Geoff]

So she's stopped looking over your shoulder. No advice I'm afraid.

[PLUMPUDDING]

Try giving them what it suggests and if they eat it all up give them more until they start to leave some. Mine then get a scratch feed of wheat (and sometimes "Superior Birdfood") and treats like cabbage leaves and left-overs in the afternoon.

I would just stick to plain food at first as they won't be used to treats and you may upset their digestions, but when they have settled in introduce extras in small amounts and see how they get on.

[John]

Hello Richard
Katie Thear suggests 130g per bird per day if you're feeding mash or pellets, which agrees with you're ¼lb figure from Google. This is only approx as a lot depends on the size of the birds, breed, temperature and whether they are laying. Also you'll need to consider how much foraging your birds can do and what scraps you can give them - the more of this they get then the less feed they will need.
The best thing to use is a top-hat feeder. These you can fill and the birds will peck what they need from the bottom - they are sort of weather-proof. Birds only take what they need so there's not much risk normally of them getting fat. A supply of grit in a separate feeder is a good idea especially if your birds can't do much scratching and pecking in fresh ground.

John

[Gilly C]

Cheapest feeder is a pheasant feeder it is just a spring that you fix to a plastic bucket but no good for ex batts as they have only had layers mash so first you would have to get them to eat pellets than get them to use the feeder not only does it give them something to do it stops rats mice and birds helping themselves as only a few pellets come out each time it is pecked. Just a word of warning I started with 6 ex batts more than 30 years ago you can never go back to shop eggs chicken keeping is addictive I currently have 25 Silkies a mix of minature and large fowl and 8 Guinea fowl, my ex batts were rather scraggy looking but laid from the first day

[alan refail]

Hi Richard

In all the time I have had hens I have never thought to weigh their feed

The general advice for layers is layers pellets or mash ad-lib. I give them what seems enough. They eat all from the morning feed so I give them a bit more in the evening. If they don't eat it all they've had enough, if they eat it all they will happily last the night till the morning feed. My only measure is that 39 chickens and 19 ducks get through 50 kilos of pellets and about 10 kilos of mixed corn per week.

If 1/4 to 1/3 lb of pellets per bird per day is correct, a 25kg bag will indeed last 4 birds for about 50 days. If my calculator speaks true this is roughly the same as the consumption I mention for my birds, bearing in mind that my ducks eat a lot less than the chickens and that they are all free range and forage for themselves all day.

You don't say how many birds but I assume you are calculating for four.

I won't add my views on rescued battery hens - but remember they are not actually "liberated" from the batteries, rather rescued from certain "disposal" (=slaughter) towards the end of their laying life (72 weeks), and are then, of course, replaced with new battery birds.

[Chantal]

I too have never weighed how much my chickens eat

I have one cockerel and four girls who eat a few scoops (old fish food container) of layers pellets/kibbled maize/grits each day and supplement this by scratching around the garden and being feed greens and "treats" by my neighbours. They rarely eat all their food, but as has been said, they eat what they need. I buy one sack of each feed every 6-8 weeks.

Don't tell me they shouldn't have treats, I do know this but have tried and failed for years to stop my neighbour feeding them bread, fruit cake etc etc. That said, my last chickens lived to be around 10 years old and still laid two or three eggs a week in the last years of their lives, so I guess it can't do much harm.

I would just experiment with what they need, if they leave lots, feed them less etc. If they eat everything and look hungry, feed them more. You'll soon get the hang of it.

[Gilly C]

Chantal that seems a lot of feed pellets last me 3 weeks and mixed corn about 5 weeks I have 25 Silkies even the large fowl are only bantam size but 8 guineas too are you feeding the wild birds too ?

[Chantal]

Yes And six squirrels

[Gilly C]

That explains it then as long as you know !!! pheasant spring feeders are good ! and saves money too with the price of feed