I am buying in pellets for my laying hens in a fairly suburban environment. I've constructed a feeder that I can fill allowing my laying hens to feed on demand. They scatter a lot of food on the ground, and only eat it when there is nothing more to scatter about, and by then it usually rains (sorry for those stricken by drought). I am considering rationing to encourage more efficient use of purchased feed. Any suggestions? They are in a wheeled coop and I move the yard every month or two. I am working on more tractor-like arrangements and gleaning opportunities for the ladies, but I suspect I will be managing bought in feed for a while. What is a good feed rate? Most web resources suggest the endless trough approach. Paul
Re: wasted chicken feed I hang my feeder, and I use pelleted feed, not crumbles, as several people told me that they waste a lot more when crumbles are fed. Since I only have four hens, I never fill it up. At first, when the feed got low, they would eat what they could reach, but there was always a mound in the center that they couldn't reach. Finally, I got smart and put a largish, pointy-on-top rock in the bottom of the dispenser, to occupy much of that space. The last of the feed slides closer to the sides, where they can reach it. A rock shaped like a Hershey's chocolate kiss would be perfect (still looking). Maybe I will make one out of concrete, in a simple in-ground sand mold. I keep it in their covered pen where the rain can't get to it. They don't go into the pen much during the day, but they can if they want to. Sue
Re: wasted chicken feed I use grandpas feeder absolutely brilliant I went from a 25kg bag of feed every 3 weeks for 4 hens to one bag every 3 1/2 months for four hens the waste was going to the local doves https://www.poultry-feeders.com/ they are expesnive - mine cost $195 plus postage, but I reckon I'll get my money back in six months and they are dead easy to train the chooks in using them my lohmans brown got the hang of it on day one the light sussex took a while longer
why not try this feeder https://thecarpentershop.net/mediumplywoodchickenfeeder.html It might solve your problem. its low cost and made up of galvanized metal sheet.
we had 4 chooks some time ago building another chook combo now for more again maybe 6, wife would feed ours grain mash 1 cup each once a day, we got eggs each day(4), would never use that pelleted stuff that is same/similar to what chook farms use. our birds then as now will ahve free range from early arvo' on grass, where they get to eat various bugs as well. len
Here's a link to an idea I'm about to try plus on the right of the utube page there's more ideas as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJvqH7a78SA