wasted chicken feed

[Paul Cereghino]

I am buying in pellets for my laying hens in a fairly suburban environment. I've constructed a feeder that I can fill allowing my laying hens to feed on demand. They scatter a lot of food on the ground, and only eat it when there is nothing more to scatter about, and by then it usually rains (sorry for those stricken by drought). I am considering rationing to encourage more efficient use of purchased feed. Any suggestions? They are in a wheeled coop and I move the yard every month or two. I am working on more tractor-like arrangements and gleaning opportunities for the ladies, but I suspect I will be managing bought in feed for a while. What is a good feed rate? Most web resources suggest the endless trough approach.
Paul

[SueinWA]

I hang my feeder, and I use pelleted feed, not crumbles, as several people told me that they waste a lot more when crumbles are fed. Since I only have four hens, I never fill it up. At first, when the feed got low, they would eat what they could reach, but there was always a mound in the center that they couldn't reach. Finally, I got smart and put a largish, pointy-on-top rock in the bottom of the dispenser, to occupy much of that space. The last of the feed slides closer to the sides, where they can reach it. A rock shaped like a Hershey's chocolate kiss would be perfect (still looking). Maybe I will make one out of concrete, in a simple in-ground sand mold.

I keep it in their covered pen where the rain can't get to it. They don't go into the pen much during the day, but they can if they want to.

Sue

[paradisi]

I use grandpas feeder

absolutely brilliant

I went from a 25kg bag of feed every 3 weeks for 4 hens to one bag every 3 1/2 months for four hens

the waste was going to the local doves

http://www.poultry-feeders.com/

they are expesnive - mine cost $195 plus postage, but I reckon I'll get my money back in six months

and they are dead easy to train the chooks in using them

my lohmans brown got the hang of it on day one
the light sussex took a while longer