Single hen

[hilda-and-evadne]

Thanks to all the lovely advice and help here, I have stopped the bullying between my two hens. One result seems to be that they are both laying much larger eggs - it might be a coincidence, ie that they would have done anyway, but in Hilda's case her eggs are markedly bigger - it is as if the bullying and being bullied was taking up a lot of energy that should have been spent on creating eggs.

 

Anyway, they are also eating far more pellets. I think it unlikely that anything is helping them eat the pellets, as I take the grubs in at night; the run has a mesh roof so birds don't get in; and any mouse that got into the run would soon be an ex-mouse. But I thought I'd ask how many grams one should expect them to eat a day, and then I'll weigh it for a few days, instead of just putting x handfuls into the grubs.

[Egluntyne]

A fully grown hen will eat around 120g pellets per day according to the Omlet guide.

 

I wouldn't limit them by weighing their food as they should be able to access it ad lib.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Glad to hear the bullying has stopped . That must be a relief for you .

[Mollystar]

I wondered this too but I must be fine because the girls always have pellets (& grit ) left in there Grub, 9 chickens, they have the grub almost filled every night plus a few hand fulls scattered around & a small treat, left overs or a couple of corn.

[hilda-and-evadne]

A fully grown hen will eat around 120g pellets per day according to the Omlet guide.

 

I wouldn't limit them by weighing their food as they should be able to access it ad lib.

 

Thank you. Sorry, I wasn't clear, I wasn't intending to limit them - only to try to gauge whether some other creature was eating the pellets as well - there is a such a bit difference between how much they are eating now and how much they were eating in the months before I put the bumper bit on Hilda.

[RubyReckless]

If their eggs are bigger, it sounds like they've settled into laying properly - real hens eggs rather than pullets eggs, if you see what I mean. It takes a LOT of energy to produce an decent sized egg every day, and their appetite does increase, I've found.

 

Some breeds eat more than others, too - I chatted to a local free range egg bloke at the market who said he swapped to a different breed from Warrens because his Warrens ate so much it was a struggle to make a profit selling the eggs! Certainly my Warrens have been amazingly greedy things.