Can You Overfeed Chickens? | Nature's Best Organic Feeds (2024)

FAQs

Can You Overfeed Chickens? | Nature's Best Organic Feeds? ›

Chickens Won't Overeat

Too much feed (or too rich feed) will cause the birds to put on weight faster than their skeletal structure and internal organs can support. Chick starter feed should have a protein content of 20-21%. Grower should have a protein content of 17-18%. Try not to exceed that.

If you overfeed your chickens, it could cause obesity, which can then lead to a range of health problems such as mobility issues, pressure sores, and becoming egg bound. To prevent these health conditions — some of which can be fatal — it's important to feed your backyard chickens the right type and amount of feed.

Healthier flock: Because your chickens won't consume feed made with chemicals, toxins or additives, they will be less likely to have diet-related health issues. More nutrition: Organic feed offers more nutrition.

Ideally, chickens should have access to their feed from when they get up in the morning to when they roost at night. Chickens naturally want to eat first thing in the morning, because their crop is empty. They also fill up before roosting, so they have something to digest overnight.

Do chickens know when to stop eating? Yes. They stop eating when their crop is full. They generally stand around grooming for a while or lay down to rest while they digest it.

How Much Feed Do My Chickens Need? Your chickens should have a constant supply of food throughout the day. Chickens will eat when they need it and should go to bed with a full crop as they need lots of food to produce eggs. A fully grown chicken will typically eat about 120 grams of layers pellets a day.

For the most part, chickens normally only eat what they have room for and won't eat more than they need to. Just because chickens won't overeat doesn't mean they can't become obese. Treats like seeds, table scraps, and other non-feed-based foods should only constitute 10% of a chicken's diet.

Chickens will invariably eat (and drink) as soon as they rise, because their crop is empty. One of the most common problems is chicken keepers don't get up early enough to make feed accessible - this causes bullying and feather pecking as hungry (or hangry) birds wait for breakfast!

Best Practices to Feed Chickens

There are many chicken owners who only put the feed outside twice a day. This is actually a really great way to feed your chickens while cutting down on the pest population. By keeping food and water out of your coop, you'll likely keep mice, rats, and other pests out of your coop.

What is the healthiest feed for chickens? ›

Good choices include leafy greens, cooked beans, corn, non-sugary cereals and grains, berries, apples and most other fruits and vegetables. Despite often voracious appetites and a willingness to eat just about anything you might give them, there are some foods to be avoided.

How do you feed chickens organically? To be fully organic, you need to make or buy organic chicken feed. This often includes whole corn, soft white wheat, hard red winter wheat, Diatomaceous Earth, hulled barley, oat groats, sunflower seeds, peanuts, wheat bran, split peas, lentils, quinoa, sesame seeds and kelp.

Free ranging chickens offers many benefits, the most obvious being that access to fresh air, sunshine and open land on which to forage can make for healthier chickens. But it doesn't end there. When chickens are able to forage for themselves, all of those bugs, grubs and worms fuel healthier eggs as well.

Placing Your Feeders & Waterers

Whichever style you prefer, the most important detail to remember is that your chickens always need fresh, clean water. They function best if placed in the run instead of inside the coop. Chickens don't usually eat after they go to roost, which is about 30 minutes before dusk.

But can chickens of today survive without chicken feed like those chickens of our ancestors? Maybe! If you have enough land with crops growing and bugs plentiful, you can allow your chickens to forage for most of their diet from bugs and plants during the time of year that the plants are growing.

On average, a laying hen eats about ¼-pound of feed per day or 1.5 pounds of feed per week. If you're buying a 50-pound bag of feed, it would feed your chicken for about 33 weeks. If you have four hens in your flock, eating about 6 pounds of feed a week, you'll go through a 50-pound bag of feed about every 8 weeks.

Best Practices to Feed Chickens

By keeping food and water out of your coop, you'll likely keep mice, rats, and other pests out of your coop. I love this idea especially for people who are in the habit of feeding their farm animals twice a day.

Free-ranging chickens can accidentally ingest the liquid from these sources. Clinical signs include ataxia, seizures, watery feces, dyspnea, and death. Kidneys may appear enlarged and pale on gross examination.

Chickens will invariably eat (and drink) as soon as they rise, because their crop is empty. One of the most common problems is chicken keepers don't get up early enough to make feed accessible - this causes bullying and feather pecking as hungry (or hangry) birds wait for breakfast!