How Often Do You Need to Feed Backyard Chickens?

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How often do you need to feed your backyard chickens? Fortunately, chickens are fairly simple animals that don’t require 24/7 maintenance. Although they can pretty much monitor their own feed, it is important to know what type of feed to give them as well as how to manage feeding them your kitchen scraps and extras. Chickens are often known to be great recyclers – they can take table scraps and turn them into fresh eggs! But giving them too much or the wrong feeds can also cause problems.

Fortunately, chicken nutrition isn’t rocket science. It’s not too hard to learn how to care for your own backyard chickens and harvest your own eggs or even meat off of your property. If you’re working on increasing your self-sufficiency level or perhaps just knowing where your food comes from, chickens are a great start. They don’t take up a lot of space. They’re not difficult to physically handle like larger livestock can be. They don’t require significant infrastructure. They’re great foragers and can even fertilize your soil. And – when set up right – they sometimes don’t even need any attention at all for a couple of days at a time (of course, it’s always a good idea to put eyes on your birds once or twice a day just to make sure everything’s okay).

In this blog post, we’ll go over how often you should feed your chickens, the amount of feed and type of feed your birds need for a healthy diet, how to give table scraps without causing health issues, and tips for simplifying your feeding routine.

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How Often Do You Need to Feed Backyard Chickens?

Chickens are natural grazers and eat small bits thought the day. On a high-quality feed that’s appropriate for your birds, most chickens can have unlimited access to feed. Layers won’t overeat. Meat birds, on the other hand, may need to have their feed limited, as they will actually eat themselves to death.

Since chickens do just fine with free access to their feed, you can just keep the feeder full all the time. This actually makes them very flexible animals, since they don’t necessarily come to expect a bucket of feed at a specific time every day. Just keep it full, and they’ll eat what they need to.

chickens eating from feeding trough in barn

The problems with overeating come when chickens are not on a balanced diet. Too many scratch grains, treats, and bugs can actually fill them up too much and also cause them to be too full to get the essential nutrients they need from their layer feed.

Chickens also need a different protein content as well as different nutrients depending on their age and breed.

Young chicks will need a chick starter feed with more nutrients and around 18%-22% protein.

Grower feed is ideal when chicks are transitioning to layer feed and usually has around 18%-20% protein.

Layer feed is for adult chickens and aids in egg production since it has added calcium to support strong shells. It’s usually around 16% protein.

And meat birds need a higher protein poultry feed of around 22% to help them gain weight quickly.

How Much Do Chickens Typically Eat?

The average egg-laying hen will eat around 100-120 grams of feed per day, or around 0.25 pounds. Of course, this amount can vary depending on age, health, breed, and time of year.

In the hot weather when everything’s growing and bugs are out, your chickens will be foraging more and may not eat quite as much feed. In the winter months, their feed is about the only thing they can eat, and they’ll need extra energy to keep warm, so they may eat more.

Young chicks will eat less, of course, and meat chickens will eat more to fuel their rapid growth.

Don’t worry too much about how much feed chickens need. As long as you’re providing them with a high-quality complete feed that’s appropriate for their age and usage, and not giving them too many scraps, most chickens don’t have a problem managing their own feed intake.

As a general rule, you shouldn’t allow table scraps or scratch grains to exceed 10% of their diet.

Can You Overfeed Backyard Chickens?

Yes and no. On an appropriate feed (for example, a 16% complete layer feed for laying hens or a chick starter diet for baby chicks), chickens will not overeat. However, giving your chickens too many kitchen scraps or scratch grains can cause them to overeat, as well as miss out on essential nutrients, since they’ll often get too full to eat enough of their regular feed.

Make sure that you feed treats only in small amounts. They shouldn’t exceed 10% of the birds’ diet.

Meat chickens (like Cornish Cross) on the other hand, WILL overeat. These birds grow rapidly (they are generally ready to process in about 8 weeks) and will literally eat themselves to death if you let them. When they eat too much, it can cause numerous health problems, especially relating to their hearts and legs. We keep our Cornish Cross broilers on a 12-hour-on, 12-hour-off feed schedule for most of their (short) lives.

What Type of Feed Do Chickens Need?

Happy chickens will need different types of feed depending on a number of factors.

Age

New chicks will need more nutrients and more protein than adult chickens.

Breed

Layer breeds (birds who lay eggs) have different nutritional needs than fast-growing meat chickens.

Climate

In hot climates, chickens (especially free range chickens) will forage more and may eat less traditional feed. They’ll also need more fresh water! In cold climates, they’ll consume more feed to help them stay warm.

Primary Types of Chicken Feed

The primary categories of chicken feed include:

Starter feed. Starter feed is intended for young birds and is complete with the extra minerals and nutrients they need. It usually consists of about 18%-22% protein. New chicks usually consume this until around 8 weeks of age, when they transition to grower feed.
Grower feed. Grower chick feed has around 18%-20% protein and is ideal for transitioning young chickens from their starter feed to their layer diet. Chicken owners usually use grower feed from around 8-18 weeks of age.
Layer feed. Layer feed generally has 16% protein and is suitable for adult chickens who are laying eggs. Although it has a lower protein level, this type of feed has higher calcium to support strong eggshells. Oyster shell is sometimes also given as a supplemental feed to increase calcium when needed and help strengthen egg shells.
Broiler feed. Broiler feed is given to meat chickens and generally has about 20%-22% protein to support the rapid growth of these birds.
Scratch grains. Scratch grains are a mixture of ingredients like wheat, cracked corn, oats, and barley. While supplemental feeds like scratch grains can be given sometimes, they should be a treat and not the sole diet of your birds.

Can I Make My Own Chicken Feed?

It is possible to make your own chicken feed rather than buying a commercial feed, but before you do, take the time to really weigh whether it’s the best option.

Making chicken feed isn’t quite like making DIY plant fertilizers. Without the right mix of nutrients, chickens can become sick, stop laying, or even (eventually) die. And losing a chicken (or its eggs) is often a bigger loss than having part of your garden fail on the wrong fertilizer.

Commercial chicken feed recipes are created by people who have degrees in poultry nutrition. There’s a whole science to blending the correct carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, and vitamins in your feed. In addition, chickens have different nutritional needs during different points of their lives, so there’s not really a one-size-fits-all recipe.

The other factor to consider is cost. Making your own chicken feed is not necessarily less expensive. In fact, in some cases, it can be more expensive.

If you do want to slightly alter your mix, you might also be able to have your local feed store or grain mill make up a custom mix for you.

If you decide to go the homemade route, you can find out more about the challenges as well as some tips for success in The Prairie Homestead’s blog post: Homemade Chicken Feed Recipe.

Can Chickens Eat Kitchen Scraps?

Feeding your kitchen scraps to your chickens is a great way to put some of that kitchen waste to use. And the birds will love it! However, it’s important to keep in mind that, while many kitchen scraps provide good nutrition for your flock, too many good things can cause problems.

Chickens have specific dietary needs, and while scraps provide some nutrition, they are not the complete diet that chickens need to thrive. Because of this, it’s a good idea to keep your scraps to 10% or less of your flock’s total food intake. While chickens don’t generally overeat on their regular feed, they will overeat when it comes to their favorite treats. And when they become too filled up on treats, they won’t have room for the complete feed they need in order to get all of the right nutrients. For healthy chickens, it’s important to make sure your birds eat a balanced diet than gorging on their favorite scraps.

It’s also a good idea to feed scraps in the late morning or afternoon, after the birds have already filled up on their regular feed.

Favorite scraps among chicken keepers include:

Greens, including lettuce, kale, chard, and spinach
Fruits
Vegetables
Grains, such as bread and pasta
Cooked meats (small pieces)
Seeds
Cooked beans

Foods to avoid include:

Raw meat
Raw potato peels
Caffeine
Chocolate
Avocado skins and pits
Nightshade leaves (such as tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and peppers – although the fruits/vegetables from these plants are perfectly fine)
Processed foods
Spoiled or moldy foods

Tips for Simplifying Feeding Your Chickens

Chickens are super easy animals to get started with on your homestead or just in a small yard (just make sure you check on local regulations, first!). Since most chickens won’t overeat, it’s so simple to just keep their feed full and not have to worry about feeding them multiple times per day or at just the right time.

But there’s still plenty to do each day, so why not simplify feeding your chickens even more if possible? Here are some ways that many chicken owners make their lives even easier.

Gravity Feeder

Our DIY gravity feeder holds about 25 pounds of chicken feed. Even with 30 meat birds eating from it, we only have to fill their feed about every 2-4 days. With less birds, obviously, it can last a lot longer! It only cost us about $25 and 15 minutes to make the feeder, and it’s been going strong for years now. All you’ll need is a 5-gallon bucket, a port kit, and a power drill.

If you want to take your feeding frequency way down, the 15 minute investment will definitely pay off quickly.

Find the full instructions here: How to Make a DIY Chicken Feeder

Gravity Waterer

Even more than feed, having clean water available for your birds is vital for keeping them healthy, especially in the hotter months. Keeping chicken water filled and clean is often a chore that has to be done every single day (depending on the size of your waterer, messiness of your birds, and their water consumption, of course).

Having a gravity waterer is another way that we avoid having to fill the water every day, and because of the way its set up, the water cups stay really clean. It’s a bit more of an involved project than the feeder, but only having to fill it every few days has definitely been worth it. This design can also be made stationary (for a barn or coop) or made to move along with a chicken tractor (which is how we made ours).

Find the full instructions for our gravity waterer here: How to Make a a Gravity DIY Chicken Waterer

Storing Feed Near Your Coop

Keeping your feed near your coop is another easy way to save time and energy in your chicken chores! If you don’t have a barn or shed available, you can keep feed in a metal bucket with a lid to keep it away from animals. Plastic totes can also work, but it’s a good idea to check on it as it may be more susceptible to heat and pests. Always try to avoid leaving feed bags open or exposed in order to keep critters out.

Automatic Door

For free-range chickens and chicken runs, an automatic door can be another helpful tool to keep your chickens safe without having to be home at dusk every night and having to go out first thing every morning to open and close their door. Automatic doors come in a number of different styles, and some are even solar powered. They can be a little pricey, so if you’re just getting started with chickens, it might not be your first investment.