Feeding backyard poultry

If you don’t have a bird-proof house then the feed, whether dry pellets or moistened mash, should be fed in troughs early in the morning. Ideally, you would repeat this several times a day, removing the troughs when the flock has finished eating. Make sure all your fowls have had enough to eat before you remove the leftovers. Remember the chook pecking order — those at the bottom have to wait until the dominant members of the flock are finished before they can start. If there’s anything left for them. It’s up to you to ensure that these weaker, more timid, members of the flock get enough food.

Simple, V-shaped troughs are more than adequate, but put a couple of small drain holes in the bottom — just in case it rains.

How much feed does a hen need? There are no hard and fast rules. Laying birds are unlikely to overeat and it’s important they get all they need if they are to lay to potential. At the same time, any uneaten food will go stale and attract birds, rats and dogs so it’s best to put out roughly the right quantities to begin with.

If your birds get mash or pellets and little else, start by offering about 100 to 120 grams per bird per day for the lighter breeds, less than that for bantams — around 80 grams. For heavy breeds Increase this to about 180 grams per bird. If a cup of flour weighs about 100 grams, you are looking at a little over a cupful of mash a day for the lighter breeds and nearly two cups each for heavy breeds or your meat birds.

How often should you feed? From the bird’s point of view the optimum is two to three feeds a day. If you have six chooks they would enjoy a couple of cups of mash in the morning, at noon and again at night.

Most of us don’t have the time to spend all day trudging down to the hen house and back, although if you can find the time, it’s therapeutic to sit and watch the chooks feed. If you’re too busy, try the time honoured method of employing junior poultry managers — send the kids down to do the job before and after school. That leaves one feed for you to do at noon.

Three feeds a day is often just not possible, so cut it to two — morning and night. Too busy in the morning? Chooks will adjust to one feed a day, but it’s far from ideal. In this situation use an ad lib feeder so they can peck at mash or pellets whenever they like.

Water is also critical. Laying hens will drink up to 500 ml a day and if they run short will be stressed and could go off the lay. Make sure their water supply is always full, always fresh and keep water bowls where hens cannot foul the water with droppings and dirt. Keep it just outside the house where hens can poke their head through to drink. You don’t want a water bowl inside the henhouse. Too much water dropped on a deep litter floor will make it damp and encourage bacteria and disease.