3.6m Omlet Chicken Run for sale, Brand New in Boxes, Milton Keynes (MK19)

[floppitydoppity]

hi all, just starting out.

we have 1 sussex, 2 blackrock and 2 speckledy

 

all settling in well to their new coop and run.

i was wondering, what is too much food.

the forum is full of advice of what food they like to eat but how much do people give athem and how often?

 

thanks

[Totty]

Hi,

Welcome to the world of chickens.

 

I remember worrying about this when I first started but soon realised that I didn't need to. Chickens do love to eat but they don't make a point of empyting their food bowl everyday.

 

Hope that helps.

Sarah

[Janty]

I fill all the feeders up once a week in the WIRs and they feed when they want to. Chickens are not like some other animals who will eat all the food up in one go. I know that some people bring the feeders in as they have a problem with rats but I just leave mine out all the time.

[docsquid]

They vary as to how much they eat depending on whether they are laying or not, and whether they are FR or not. Mine eat much more when laying, and also when confined to the run all day when the feeder is the only source of food. When they are FR they eat slugs, frogs, cat sick and anything else they can find.

 

I do try not to give them more than they will eat every day, but some days they surprise you by eating more - then I put more down in the evening - or less than expected. I leave food out as the run is on concrete so rats can't tunnel in.

 

They will get their own routine.

[floppitydoppity]

thanks all,

so if i collect food s"Ooops, word censored!"s through the day and give it them after tea, that should be ok?

 

what do ur ladies like to eat?

[cavysqueak]

Our five girls seem to only eat what they need from the layers pellets in their run. It's a different story with the layers mash which they get every other morning - I'm sure they'd just keep eating that until they burst!

 

This year we've had to only FR them in the afternoon - it's since we moved to a house with a bigger garden. This was because we were getting softies instead of eggs from one girl as she was filling up on the nice things from the garden, rather than the practical, but more boring, layers pellets!

 

Our girls are quite fussy, every chicken seems to be different as some hens hate broccolli and our girls love it. They love sweetcorn, apples (especially windfall ones from the trees), cooked pasta or noodles. We hang greens in the run every morning so that they have something to do and something fresh to eat while we are at work. I was told to stay away from potatoes - unless they are cooked, I think? But we've found so many other things that they love so we don't bother with potatoes.

 

Enjoy your new and rather addictive hobby!

[lisamumof4]

Hi

Hope you are enjoying your chickens. I got my first chooks in July and it's really addictive. I could (and do) spend ages watching them.

I put their feeder with pellets in down in the morning when I let them out in the morning and take it in at night. They eat what they want as and when. They FR a lot during the day when I'm at home and so eat whatever they want in the garden (I've seen them with huge slugs I give them cooked potato peelings if I've peeled potatoes at teatime which they go mad for. I've given them spare cooked pasta and rice in this way too. They get some mixed corn early evening which they nag for now! They also love tomatoes from the greenhouse and grapes as treats. I sometimes hang up a cabbage from my garden in their run which they devour.