Table for amount of feed at different ages...

[Intheswamp]

I'm still planning my chicken enterprise (move over Conagra!

) and am wondering about how much they eat. I'm planning currently only to have large, dual-purpose chickens with a focus on layers...Australorps, Buff Orpintons, etc.,.

I've found it stated that to raise an egg-layer chick up to 6 weeks takes about 2 pounds of starter feed but I haven't really found out how much feed it will take to get the older birds up to laying age and then how much to maintain the layer. Anybody got any information they could share with me? I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Ed

 

[digitS']

Ed, I raised some Barred Rock pullets to point-of-lay for $6 each last year - on expensive feed. One Australorp ate nearly $9 of feed (I figured

) before she finally began to pay for room & board. At 5 months, a pullet is eating quite a bit more than she was as a week-old chick. Non-laying at 6 months, you begin measuring her for the frying pan

.

If your chicks were Leghorn-types, the rule of thumb is that 15 pounds of feed will take a pullet to point-of-lay.

It won't take double that for dual-purpose chicks even tho' they get to be double the size.

Nutrient Requirements of Poultry

You can look at Table 3 "Feed consumption per week" and probably add an additional 30% - 40%.

Steve

edited to say, Your full-grown layers will eat about one-third pound of feed each day. Waste and cold weather can make a big, big difference, also.

 

[Intheswamp]

digitS' :

Ed, I raised some Barred Rock pullets to point-of-lay for $6 each last year - on expensive feed. One Australorp ate nearly $9 of feed (I figured

) before she finally began to pay for room & board. At 5 months, a pullet is eating quite a bit more than she was as a week-old chick. Non-laying at 6 months, you begin measuring her for the frying pan

.

If your chicks were Leghorn-types, the rule of thumb is that 15 pounds of feed will take a pullet to point-of-lay.

It won't take double that for dual-purpose chicks even tho' they get to be double the size.

Nutrient Requirements of Poultry

Say that Australorp really made a pig of herself, eh?

Is that normal for the Australorps? Do the Buff Orps eat about the same as the Aussies?

Thanks for the link, Steve. That helped a lot...along with your note about the increase for the backyard-type of chickens. I took the information and put a little spreadsheet together changing things to American Standard weights and also to increase the food consumption by a specified amount. In this screen capture I increased the consumption by 35%. I also added a "total consumed" column. I'm not sure if the logic of my math is correct but it oughta be close. BTW, what is the "hen-day percent"????

digitS' :

You can look at Table 3 "Feed consumption per week" and probably add an additional 30% - 40%.

Steve

edited to say, Your full-grown layers will eat about one-third pound of feed each day. Waste and cold weather can make a big, big difference, also.

Looks like the spreadsheet at 35% for the larger chicken is hitting pretty close to that 1/3 pound per day consumption.

It would be a little closer if I nudged it closer to the 40% mark.

Thanks for the info and link!!!
Ed​

 

[Intheswamp]

Hmm, I went back and checked and it looks like 168% would work out to 1/3 pound per day. Any how....FWIW.

Ed

 

[digitS']

Ed, you have skills beyond my own !!

Maybe you could work that table backwards from 1/3 pound, relative to age . . .

Well, here's what I do - I weigh how much the birds have eaten each day. (The scale sits right beside the feed bag.) Then, I give treats and scratch based on how close they've come to 1/4 pound/ each. They always get something extra and they always have the commercial feed, free-choice.

With only 4 hens, this is a simple thing. If the 4 of them have eaten a lot more than 1 pound, I give a generous amount of goodies. If they have eaten just about a pound, I'm a less generous. It's real guess-work but I can keep them close to 1/4 pound of commercial feed a day. The always get treats and the hens are getting quite a bit of fresh grass on their own these days.

I've had Australorps over many years and they've always done real good for me. This one pullet was quite the laggard, however.

I've also had Buff Orpingtons and liked them just fine. They are really, fairly similar birds. Honestly, my Barred Rocks weren't my 1st choice but both hens are doing well.

Thank you for all the extra information . . . I'm always going to unitconversion.org to try to figure things out. (I've copied your table to keep in my files.

)

I believe a "hen-day percent" is how many hens are laying on any given day.

Steve

 

[Intheswamp]

I tinkered with it a little more and added in a "feed cost" to it using pricing from TSC. Kinda makes ya realize what you've got invested in a hen...and that's just chicken feed!

This one is at 160% of the leghorn's consumption. I'll have to think a little on working the 1/3 pounds backwards.

I like your idea of "eat your food and you can have a treat". Keeps'em eating the good stuff, but yet they get rewarded for eating it.

Thanks for the info on the Australorps and the Buff Orps. Both are spoken well of in regards to personalities which is important to me as my 2+ year old granddaughterwill be foreman of this here chicken ranch!

Ed

 

[digitS']

Wonderful, Ed!

Just exactly the sort of thing I like to see! I think anyone can learn from your work

.

Apparently, my wild guess that 30% - 40% more feed for dual-purpose has been adequately debunked.

Interesting that your numbers come up exactly the same, however, for $$ feed I put into the pullets last year - $6 @ 20 weeks and $9 @ 26 weeks.

For me to have done that with more expensive feed was possible by giving a lot of stuff from the kitchen and garden after the birds were willing to try new foods (about 8 weeks).

Now, my next question is: Why does the price of feed in the South seem so low compared to what I pay for it here where a lot of grain is grown??

I may really, really be buying from the wrong sources and need to do better with my $$.

.

At least I'm a hard-nosed disciplinarian: "Clean your plates or you won't get any dessert."

Steve

 

[MoM2girls1boy]

Hey I'm new to this raising baby chicks an I'm also a dumb blonde so could someone please tell me how much and how often I need to feed my baby chicks,I have 2Rhode Island Reds,2white Leghorns that are 5 days old also have 2 bannies that are 3 days old and 1 buff and lonestar mix that is 2wks old please help

 

[digitS']

Keep food in front of those chicks all the time.

"lonestar mix" . . . . ?

S'
edited: Welcome to BYC

!

 

[nelstone74]

Intheswamp

That spread sheet looks good. I was working one out similar and looking for info to complete it lead me to this forum and then to your post.

Did you create it solely from the extention site listed by DigitS'