[rachelr]

I brought my chickens home and they had been on layers mash. I got a bag of that and the pellets and decided to mix them together.

I fill their food thing every day. However there is usualy stuff left over from the day before. what do i do with this it is all mushy but there are some pellets in it.

I am petrified i am not feeding them enough. So i put a big pot in the run with compost and the left overs!!! Now I need to empty the big tray wat do i do withit. Can i compost it.
Thanks Rachel

[Casey76]

You could, but it will probably attract rats

One of th reasons I only feed pellets (unless it's winter) is becasue what isn't eaten of the mash you have the chuck away each day.  With pellets, you can just bring in on a night (or leave out, depending on how rat prood you feeders are) and top up the next day.

On average one hen will eat about 125g of food in a day, but pellets/mash should be fed ad lib.

[rachelr]

so do you think its a good idea to actually measure the mix for them. I agre its very hard to see wat is good still and wat to throw away.

[grumpydad]

if you use a feed hopper, and just keep it topped up.

they are messy eaters if they have a tray as they will walk over it.

they should have an unlimited supply of mash or pellets, mine have a hopper of both, i have very little waste, they are suspended from the roof of the run, and just lifted up each night, extras go into a tray, and what is not eaten is composted each night, cooked veg etc.

[GrannieAnnie]

Do you mix your mash with water Rachel?  You can feed it to them dry as long as they have plenty of fresh drinking water.  But I don't like mash, they make too much mess with it! 

[Pretty Chick]

I hang my chickens' feeders from the roof of their houses. They have access to them all the time and by their pellets being inside their houses, they are safe from rain ect. and don't go soggy  .

[dizzylizzie]

You'll soon get used to how much they are eating  dont worry. I have quite a few feeders around, some with crumb/mash and some with pellets in. Every night i bring my food in,partly because they dont need food through the night, and partly because i dont want to encourage vermin but everyone does it differently. I then tip all the food into a tupperware or similar so i can wash the feeders, and then the next day top up the feeders with fresh food, but put the tupperware out also. That way i know which was 'yesterdays feed, and the chucks think its something different. As ive had my girls a while now, ive kind of got the hang of how much they eat in a day anyway, so there isnt usually much left anyway. In the winter i use the left over food with hot water in first thing to give them something warm in their tummy . If the food is wet or dirty in anyway you must throw it away though as wet/mouldy food causes illness in our girls...dont worry you will soon get the hang of it. If there seems to be a lot left then your putting too much in, and if the feeder is always empty, there isnt quite enough Adjust accordingly

[gsc]

My run has a pitched roof so not ideal to hang anything from 

Still working things out