Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[Alex_LJZ]

Hay, i'm interested to know how people feed their hens. I have a large homemade feeder that I can get enough pellets in to feed for about a week. I just leave this in the corner of the run. My kids then drop of treats (corn, leaves, grass, sandwiches, rice and goodness knows what else) whenever i'm not looking.

 

I notice that some people feed daily rations of pellets - but not sure what the benefit is. Is there a problem with my approach? The main problem I can see is that there is probably no incentive to 'clean up' the the treats or any spilled pellets and it could lead to pests. That said, they never show any lack of interest when there is any gardening being done or when they are let onto a new bit of ground, but perhaps 'there is always room for icecream' (or worms)...

 

Is it possible to overfeed?

[Beantree]

I doubt you can overfeed just on pellets Alex. We feed ours 'ad lib' with feeders full all the time, but hung up at night to avoid attracting rats and mice. Scatter feeding is the alternative but the bullies get more than their share of it. Problem with the wrong sort of treats though is they can get fat and a fat hen won't lay. If they spill too much food we hang up the feeder until they have cleaned up the floor. Danger there is they can eat rotten food which gives them sour crop.

 

I'd cut out the bread which so easily leads to sour crop and also limit maize (sweetcorn), which makes them fat.

[Olly]

I agree with the points above about treats. I think most people just feed 'in bulk' as you put it - keep the feeder topped up so they never run out. I wouldn't see any point in rationing, hens don't over-eat on pellets.

[Alex_LJZ]

That's great. They don't get much bread, mostly what they steal from the kids. I like the idea of removing the feeder for a while so that they clean up, i will give this a try.

 

I find it interesting that it takes them a while to realise that some things are food. I left half a water mellon in with them for 2 days before they realised it was eddible and then once they did they gorged on it, same thing with some treat blocks.

[Chickabee]

I've got 2 gravity feeders in my WIR, I fill them up as much as I can they hold about 5 kilo between them, maybe more. I've never heard or thought of rationing their pellets. Treats yes

[gavclojak]

I top my gravity feeder for a week and then let it dwindle down, once a week I use the last of the pellets to make a porridge for the girls then put the feeders in the dishwasher and start all over again!!