[mobyjones]

"Them hybrids eat only 30 - 40 grammes of layers pellets a day" says a local poultry dealer.

"I fill my 3kg feeder daily and the 12 warrens in that pen empty it every day" advised another well known breeder.

"An adult bird will eat 125g of layers pellets per day" claims a book written by a well known author and co written by the breeder mentioned above!

Confused? Me too! So how much layers pellets should a mature hybrid hen be fed every day? With claims varying from 30g to 250g a day, answers seem to vary quite wildly.  :shock:

Obviously many other factors need to be taken into consideration. The time of year, do they range? Are they fed supplemental kitchen scraps or corn? Do they munch on your gardens vegetable patch?

However, I'd be very interested to know if any fellow forum members have ever studied the amount of feed fed to their flock in an attempt to calculate optimum egg laying production.

I know I probably sound very sad!    And maybe I do need to get out more. lol. But we all know not to overfeed, so what is the amount a healthy happy hybrid requires to produce 300 eggs per year?

I'd be very interested if any one else could provide details of similar studies of purebreeeds to.

Regards
MJ

P.S Please ensure your birds have access to more than 30g of food per day. The poultry dealer mentioned above will probably been more at home with the imperial system rather than metric! Bless him!  

[muntjac]

nowt wrong wif the old system ... i dont do metric .. if you search feeding your chickens on the site and my articles you will see my ideas on feeding in detail .... and i have been into birds  from taking eggs out the nest when i was  a rug rat  

[mobyjones]

nowt wrong wif the old system ... i dont do metric .. if you search feeding your chickens on the site and my articles you will see my ideas on feeding in detail .... and i have been into birds  from taking eggs out the nest when i was  a rug rat  

Will do, thanks again. My comments are really about the breeder being "way under". 30g is about one ounce! Can't imagine too many fat hens in his flock!  

What do you think the optimum amount of food is for a hybrid hen to maximise egg production. Imperial measurements will be fine.  

[muntjac]

3 oz . a bird will only eat til its crops full .  tha average crop carries about  half that /. the rate of it going down relates to the condition of the bird and its  gizzard action .if a bird has no acces to plentiful grit it wont be able to digest it so fast

 incidently i have shot a pigeon with 33 acorns in its crop . a pheasant had 43 sweetcorn

[mobyjones]

3OZ Is very roughly 85g.

How much do you feed your pure breeds? Obviously breeds will vary dramatically but I'd be interested to know what the optimun amount for both layers and meat birds is.

Regards
MJ

[muntjac]

i have welsummers only now,  i had varios and they all got the same even meat birds .,all of mine freeranged in large enclosures on grass with rabbit meat prtion( maggots  ) etc

[mobyjones]

i have welsummers only now,  i had varios and they all got the same even meat birds .,all of mine freeranged in large enclosures on grass with rabbit meat prtion( maggots  ) etc

Did you feed your meat birds layers pellets also?

[muntjac]

never fed layers pellets ever
. i always feed my birds my own mash . wheat and barley  sweetcorn and any other seed stuff s . i also grow loads greens during winter just for the birds.. also game cover crops can be sown in the garden / plot harvested and fed .whole corn on the cob is great for them