Would like your opinion

I have to cut back on feed and was wondering what your opinion is. Should i feed a small amount twice a day OR should I feed lots once a day?

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts

Small amount twice a day. Think that will be less waste and be a better chance that shy as well as dominant chickens eat.

We buy totes bags which lowers the per unit costs. We feed mostly rolled oats that may be fed to chickens, turkeys and cows. From there we add a portion of feed mill prepared feeds, hay leaves, garden and kitchen leftovers.

I actually found a farmer that is selling me wheat and oats. He will mix it and grind it for me. However he hasn't done it yet so while i am waiting i have to buy feed from the mill. I used to get free bread from Westons in Regina but they closed their doors

heda gobbler wrote:Small amount twice a day. Think that will be less waste and be a better chance that shy as well as dominant chickens eat.

Good point, never thought about the shy birds not getting anything.

If I have two feeders I find there is less difference in weight between the dominant ones and the shy ones. A bit of a pain but feeding twice a day would help too.

I feed Twice a day now with it being winter
as I am checking waters a couple times a day
With the colder weather I like them to have as much feed as they want I know its crazy but if I was a chicken I would want it that way

Prairie Chick if you hear of any one that sells whole wheat for feed let us know if you would we have the tote bags now
Joe

i substitute with free bread from mcgavins bread basket warehouse, they get a couple scoops of layer ration of feed per day then couple loafs of bread as tummy fillers for the layers esp as my cornish eat as much as turkeys!! i cant free feed them or i would be broke,..the birds love it, my pocket book loves it, and after all bread is just grains right? all my birds are fat LOL i give the cows some to as a treat they love it! besides 1/2 the bread they give you is still good to eat expires the next day or whatever! so some of the good stuff i freeze

I have found the hanging feeders can save a lot of waste. I like to have feed available at all times for the birds, but if they have to reach up to eat they are less likely to pull feed out while searching for the tastiest little morsels. The other type I use are from Clayton Botkin Ent. They are mounted on the wall and you can adjust the feed flow. They have a deep trough that makes it almost impossible for the birds to scatter the feed on the floor. Every bit helps with feed costs.

Prairie Chick,

Go to McGavins bread basket in Regina...there is one on Victoria Avenue & Park...southeast corner. Also another one on Albert street...in the strip mall with Petcetera and the Press Box. You won't necessarily get free bread but you can buy their day old bread for dirt dirt cheap. I used to work there and we would sell the day old for a buck a tray (10 loaves) or 3 bucks for a stack of 9 (90 loaves). The price might be slightly different now but wouldn't be very much more at all. They are really good about what they sell too...they will not ever sell anything mouldy...not even for animals.

Hope this helps

Prairie...just talked to my sis who works for McGavins. 10 cents a loaf or 2 bucks for a big stack

I feed layers once a day, meatbirds twice.

In bear season, layers get fed in morning so the feeders are empty at night. I do not want any feed hanging around tempting a bear to trash his way into my pens!

In winter I feed the layers later in the afternoon, hoping they have food in their crops most of the night. Thought being that digesting food = warmth.

Keibler77 wrote:Prairie...just talked to my sis who works for McGavins. 10 cents a loaf or 2 bucks for a big stack

the old stuff in edmonton we get free our friend works there, they give it away to people with animals to use...

triplejfarms wrote:

Keibler77 wrote:Prairie...just talked to my sis who works for McGavins. 10 cents a loaf or 2 bucks for a big stack

the old stuff in edmonton we get free our friend works there, they give it away to people with animals to use...

Oh nice! Yeah when I worked there I never understood why we didn't give it away for free but for whatever reason they do charge a very small fee down here.

Even what they charge you guys is very very reasonable! Maybe its free cause I know the lady in the back? I have never paid but I would pay what you do its still cheaper than feed!

I feed late in the day ( no bears here to contend with ) so that there is always some left for the morning and they can scratch till the evening .

Keibler77 wrote:Prairie...just talked to my sis who works for McGavins. 10 cents a loaf or 2 bucks for a big stack

I do know where the mcgavins are in the city, I will stop by there next time i go in. I loved westons and got tons of free bread, such a shame that they moved it to Winnipeg and closed the Regina location.
Thanks for the tip Should i call ahead or can i just go there.

Joe did you see that someone is selling feed corn in Moosomin on usedregina, maybe they can grind it for you..You never know

Thanks for the heads up on the corn I will look now

Prairie you can just go there but I would call ahead just so you don't waste a trip (unless you're in town anyway of course). If you don't mind going to the Albert street location, and if you ever know ahead what day you'll be in...let me know and I can get my sister to have a bunch ready for you if she has some available

Keibler77 wrote:Prairie you can just go there but I would call ahead just so you don't waste a trip (unless you're in town anyway of course). If you don't mind going to the Albert street location, and if you ever know ahead what day you'll be in...let me know and I can get my sister to have a bunch ready for you if she has some available

Will do, thanks Chantale

Raising the feeder can reduce waste.

I free feed. I started it years ago when I spoke with a guy who raised turkeys. He had fed one pen free feed and gave the other pen a ration. The free fed turkeys actually ate less than the rationed birds.

I can't afford to free feed as all my birds free range and I have 34 full grown geese, 10 or so turkeys, ducks, peacocks and chickens. The geese and turkeys are major pigs! I will be down sizing the geese in the spring, I would like to get down to about 12 geese, no turkeys, a few ducks and a few chickens. SOOOO until then i have to do what i can.

Right now i feed my birds like cattle, i pour a couple food lines. The geese eat the bigger stuff and the rest eat what is left. I also put food in the feeders in the barn and coops.

I want to butcher a few geese and turkeys soon, just need a nicer day to do so.

Val
What Turkeys do you have Left
Darwin is always interested in adding to his ever growing Turkey Flock
He loves his Turkeys

I have some older Oragon toms, bourbon reds and a chocolate pair. They are all about 3 yrs old

Thanks I will let him Know
Oh and I emailed about that Corn and they dont want to sell just a few ton they want to sell 10 or more ton at a time
Thanks for the heads up about it though it was worth a try