1st time chicken Mom

[Drumstick63]

I have 3 chickens that free range about 5-8 hrs a day, they have a continuous feeder with layer pellets and I give them fruits and or veggies when they go back in their coop for the night, also give them a bit of corn and mealworms as a treat.
I am wondering if I am feeding them to much , when they go back in the coop at night i use the fruit/veggies to get them to come inside and they seem to expect it also, lol
if they see me during the day they always act like they are starving or think I’m going to feed them. They will follow me all over the yard

 

[Pork Pie]

As they free range I would be inclined to limit any additional “treats”. I used to give my flock a handful of millet seed on a daily basis, which ensured I could get them into the run if I was going out and not returning before nightfall.

 

[LaurEliz]

Mine free range almost all day most of the time. On days they’re out all day in the summer when plants and insects are plentiful at the end of the day I usually just toss a handful of feed at them mostly to reward them for putting themselves up at night. Mine get table scraps too, depending on what they are.

 

[LostBoi73]

I have 3 chickens that free range about 5-8 hrs a day, they have a continuous feeder with layer pellets and I give them fruits and or veggies when they go back in their coop for the night, also give them a bit of corn and mealworms as a treat.
I am wondering if I am feeding them to much , when they go back in the coop at night i use the fruit/veggies to get them to come inside and they seem to expect it also, lol
if they see me during the day they always act like they are starving or think I’m going to feed them. They will follow me all over the yard

Hmm I think I may be a feeder! I can't help it! They look at me with hopeful and expecting eyes and I cave. They get live meal worms, dried meal worms, mixed, layer pellest ( that they don't seem to enjoy) mixed chicken corn with seeds & sweetcorn . That's just the mix I make to feed them. I also hang corn cobs up and other veg at times, larg mealworm for hand fed treats oh and they love strawberries, aswell as freeranging 8h to 12h a day at the moment. I think I may have a problem! . But I'm just trying to keep them enriched and happy, but seriously guys am I hurting them by overfeeding ( there not fat but young and still growing) and spoiling their enjoyment of life being a chicken by taking away their need to forage?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

A nutritionally complete, balanced diet is what they need. Free ranging adds a big, unknowable variable which can help to address imbalance (or be the cause of it) depending upon what they are free ranging on. The more diverse the pasture, the better.

That said, the rest of your management practice has the potential to be treat heavy and imbalanced, depending on how much is being offered with that frequency. I don't have concerns with your making the layer feed available 24/7 - apart from CornishX which are famed for a willingness to lay at the feeder and attempt to eat themselves to death, most breeds don't have a reputation for gorging till they pop. Chickens are like precocious children, refusing to eat their vegetables when dessert is equally available. Meal worms are high protein - that's a good thing. But they are also high fat. Corn is high carb filler, used to reduce feed costs. Fruits/veggies vary by fruit and veggie. Treats (including scratch) should not exceed 10% of the diet, by weight, daily.

In my biodiverse polycultural pasture of several acres, I still have to watch the birds as some things come into season (like the currently ripening wild muscadine grapes) so they don't gorge themselves to excess on those fruits, coming on the back of the wild blackberries being in season. Likely, I'm going to have to remove some more mature plants to reduce availability.

Yes, its hard to be the responsible one. My chickens have trained me to throw Scratch to get them out of the barn - so of course every time I go into the barn, they race in after me - knowing what's next. I've had to reduce the size of the cup I use to throw scratch to my 50+ poultry.

My birds free range all day - began about an hour ago - and I feed them only once daily, in the evenings, so they come back to the runs and houses to sleep overnight. That ensures they sleep with a full crop, gives me an opportunity to do a head count (if desired), watch behaviors, and of course encourages them to sleep in a place of greater safety. By morning, they are eager to free range, knowing there will be no "free meal" for many hours. By watching their evening feed consumption (it has to be adjusted roughly seasonally) I get some feel for how effectively the pasture is providing for their needs.

Management practices differ - there's no "one right way", though there are plenty of wrong ones - and no matter what method you choose, its important to watch the flock for behavior changes. It usually the first indicator that something may be wrong.

/edited for tone - I'm not the best of humans at any time, but tend toward curt pre-caffeine.

 

[LostBoi73]

A nutritionally complete, balanced diet is what they need. Free ranging adds a big, unknowable variable which can help to address imbalance (or be the cause of it) depending upon what they are free ranging on. The more diverse the pasture, the better.

That said, the rest of your management practice has the potential to be treat heavy and imbalanced, depending on how much is being offered with that frequency. I don't have concerns with your making the layer feed available 24/7 - apart from CornishX which are famed for a willingness to lay at the feeder and attempt to eat themselves to death, most breeds don't have a reputation for gorging till they pop. Chickens are like precocious children, refusing to eat their vegetables when dessert is equally available. Meal worms are high protein - that's a good thing. But they are also high fat. Corn is high carb filler, used to reduce feed costs. Fruits/veggies vary by fruit and veggie. Treats (including scratch) should not exceed 10% of the diet, by weight, daily.

In my biodiverse polycultural pasture of several acres, I still have to watch the birds as some things come into season (like the currently ripening wild muscadine grapes) so they don't gorge themselves to excess on those fruits, coming on the back of the wild blackberries being in season. Likely, I'm going to have to remove some more mature plants to reduce availability.

Yes, its hard to be the responsible one. My chickens have trained me to throw Scratch to get them out of the barn - so of course every time I go into the barn, they race in after me - knowing what's next. I've had to reduce the size of the cup I use to throw scratch to my 50+ poultry.

My birds free range all day - began about an hour ago - and I feed them only once daily, in the evenings, so they come back to the runs and houses to sleep overnight. That ensures they sleep with a full crop, gives me an opportunity to do a head count (if desired), watch behaviors, and of course encourages them to sleep in a place of greater safety. By morning, they are eager to free range, knowing there will be no "free meal" for many hours. By watching their evening feed consumption (it has to be adjusted roughly seasonally) I get some feel for how effectively the pasture is providing for their needs.

Management practices differ - there's no "one right way", though there are plenty of wrong ones - and no matter what method you choose, its important to watch the flock for behavior changes. It usually the first indicator that something may be wrong.

/edited for tone - I'm not the best of humans at any time, but tend toward curt pre-caffeine.

Your right of course. Its just so hard not to pander to their every need lol. I would like to plant more stuff around our farm ( 14 acres) but living on the tops of the peak district ( my southern friends call it the bleak District but I think its beautiful) fruit bareing plants either fail to crop or are small some even perish due to cold and rain. But I guess if you don't try you don't get. We do have wild wimburries ( a bit like blueberries) growing fairly close so I may try some of them. I just need to curb my enthusiasm. Thank you for the advice and always happy for any other tip bits to help me keep my little flock safe

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Your right of course. Its just so hard not to pander to their every need lol. I would like to plant more stuff around our farm ( 14 acres) but living on the tops of the peak district ( my southern friends call it the bleak District but I think its beautiful) fruit bareing plants either fail to crop or are small some even perish due to cold and rain. But I guess if you don't try you don't get. We do have wild wimburries ( a bit like blueberries) growing fairly close so I may try some of them. I just need to curb my enthusiasm. Thank you for the advice and always happy for any other tip bits to help me keep my little flock safe

It **IS** hard not to pander, and your little dinosaurs chasing you around the fields triggers an endorphin rush. I understand, and I'm not the most empathic of humans. We've only got about 4.5 acres for our birds, about 1.75 acres of pasture, the rest underbrushed native woods. When the land was cleared, I scattered small amounts of anything I could get, just to see what would grow, letting time and competition fill in, rather than over seeding with thousands of dollars in seed, water, and heavy equipment rental to manufacture a pasture. Its been time consuming, at times frustrating, and is still a work in progress - but it largely sees to itself now, with no (or very limited) management by me.

Still have to go remove invasives by hand to control them (soda apple is particularly problematic around here), but I have several clovers (red, yellow, white) all well established enough to self seed each year, blue flax, more grasses than I can quickly list (from short perrenial ryes and fescues to tall and wispy feather grasses), mint, thyme, sorrel, millet, a few sunflowers, broccoli, radishes, and a handful of wild fruits - blueberry, mulberry, raspberry, the muscadines, and purple passion fruit vine, plus others - dog fennel, rabbit tobacco, even coffee senna.

I've found the "three sisters" method works very well for me. The only downside is that the pasture lookes like a weed garden - and I've not brought in goats to help me manage the height. Something is always in bloom or in seed, which discourages mowing.