I was always worried that our girls were not eating enough - they've had crumb and pellets - as I think (if i remember correctly & varies from girl to girl) a hen eats about 120g of pellets/crumb a day.
When we first got the first ex-batts, we had about 18 inches of snow, and the poor featherless souls had 1/2 of the garage with their new coop in it. We let them out for a couple of hours, but as they were used to being caged, they loved being in the warm with LOADS of space. They never ate 120g each, even then. Once the weather turned better, their coop moved to the garden with a 16 sq yd run attached - consumption of feed went down.
Now we have 6 girls and they free range in the garden (even though they have the large run!!) from about 6am (dawn) till 6pm (dusk) - a sack of pellets is lasting about 9-10 weeks for the 6 of them
Now its spring, OH brings sticky-willies for them every day, they often get beansprouts for 10p a bag
grated raw swede; cabbage, sprouts and brocolli need to be cooked for our girls - they dont like them raw. Banana, grapes, fishing maggots, dried mealworms, scratch corn, etc... They will eat just about anything you care to give them - rice, spaghetti, noodles, mashed potato, chips, fruit & peels (I find that they'll have a go at most things grated - maybe they think it's worms).
As long as they've got a dry supply of pellets/crumb, fresh water and some oyster shell & grit, they'll not go wrong - if they have access to loads of other stuff, they will eat less rations and drink less water - given the choice of bran-flakes in a bowl or a smorgasbord on the table, I know what I'd eat
Our girls (same as dogs) prefer to drink from a dirty puddle or flowerpot/bucket than the fresh water supplied to them.
@Dawnuss - our big springer is BARF fed - I know what you mean about when you start down that road, but now, we open the freezer, grab his portions of this & that- job done - & it's so much cheaper than commercial dog food. Getting to grips with feeding the girls I would say was easier than BARF.