How can I further reduce chicken feed consumption

I've got 7 hens and a rooster in about a quarter acre paddock.  It has an abundance of plant growth for them to feed upon.  During the winter months they go through about 5 gallons of feed a week.  I was hoping that the new paddock would all but eliminate the feed consumption during the growing season.  

Unfortunately, it has not.  They still consume about 3 gallons of feed a week.  

Any suggestions?

Steve, it sounds like you've made good progress on your goal. One thing I found to help was to move our compost piles into the chicken yard. They adore digging through the scraps and the bonuses were less feed and faster compost.

Another thing you can do is to sprout grain for them. That can cut the feed usage by up to 70%. Permies actually has PEP badge for that. You can find directions and videos here.

I agree with Leigh about sprouting their grain.  It is an easy way to grow food for them.

That link has some great videos of how to do it and even recipes on how to blend the feed to make the sprouts.

Be sure to take some pictures next winter so you can complete the badge bit!

That seems like a lot of feed. I have 10 hens and a rooster and I go through about 2 gallons of food a week. They get food scraps and weeds and whatnot. Are you free feeding? My birds get a quart a day in the morning. The rest of the day I expect them to peck about in the weeds and scraps. Granted three of the birds are young, but I'm still getting 6-8 eggs a day.

Make sure rats aren't eating their feed.  We burned through a lot of feed before we realized just how much the rats were eating.   100 lbs of feed a year per bird is a rough estimate to judge by.

Saw something once about using a light to attract bugs for feed.  I've never tried it, but always thought it interesting.  

Also saw something about using carcasses (roadkill, etc) to grow maggots to feed them.  Then saw something about listeria problems with the method so I never pursued it, but might be something to check out.

I would agree that sounds to high, are they wasting a lot of feed by throwing it on the ground? Can wild birds get to the feed and is there any evidence of mice/rats?

A comment on sprouts reducing feed consumption that is one of the ones that is wrong unless you raise the sprouts to extreme size.  Think of it this way.  A seed contains X amount of stored energy.  It takes Y amount to produce the sprout that it actually burns up sprouting.  So in the short term the food value of the sprout actually goes down.  Eventually it will make enough other stuff to make up for that loss.  But in the short term a sprout actually increases the total amount of feed needed.  Now it has some other advantages as green feed has different nutrients available.

Do a search for feeding cattle sprouts in a drought out of Australia.  You will find a guy talking about all the gains made feeding sprouts.  Then check the articles that debunk this and show how the total feed needs go up rather than down.  But they also note that in most cases the livestock eating sprouts tends to be healthier.

Now you will find chickens will eat a certain amount of grain if the have it available.  Watch bird health and reduce it some.  Also the people talking about rodents and waste have serious points that should be considered.

Yes, I am free feeding.  

There is very little waste and no signs of rats or mice.  

Then I would suggest not to free feed. I like to make them work for their food. If their egg production were to drop without other explanation, or they looked thin or ill, then I would up their feed. Chickens are going to have preferences just like people, sometimes it takes a little encouragement to get them to eat the things we want them to.

what breed/s of chicken? i suspect that can have an influence on how ‘into’ kibble they are, as opposed to forage.

i currently have 7 hens and 2 roosters, with full time access to food, and i think i’ve seen a local crow swoop in and steal occasionally, and they don’t go through anywhere near that volume of food.

They are ISA Browns

I ferment grains.  I used to grow fodder, but read fermenting grains is even better for them, and sooooo much easier.  You put grains I use  wheat and barley.   Put water in, a container (otherwise they help themselves) making sure that even when it swells it is still covered with water. Let it set, stir or shake every day.  The time it takes depends on the weather. In the summer mine is ready in 2 days. I use 3 containers. Refill when I feed the hens, and put it in the back, shake the other two.  It's easy and doesn't take long.
In the winter it takes longer, 4 days for me, so I use 5 containers. Doing this has saved me a lot on my feed bill. I'm sorry I can't be specific because I didn't keep track.  I do know if I don't give them there fermented grains they go through layer food like there's no tomorrow.  I have 19 hens, and they get 2ish cups of grains a day. I use 1 cup wheat, 1 cup barley, and add other stuff, like oatmeal, or chia seeds, or flax seed, scratch, stuff like that to keep them healthy, maybe make the eggs more nutritious?  And to give them verity.  They love it, and it makes a huge difference on my feed cost. Some people only feed there chickens this. I figure chickens are foreigners, so a wide variety, of food seems like it would be better for them.  If you're interested there is lots on YouTube about it.  I had a hard time at first finding the grains. Don't order it on the internet, it's way to expensive. I get mine at our local farm co-op.  
Do you use crumbles?  My chickens like them best, but the pellet seem to last longer. I think there is less waist.  It is easier to find when they have flung it out of the feeder.  
I also feed them our veggie scraps, and extra garden veggies.
I also put my compost in my chicken yard. It didn't work out for me.  I know lots of people make it work, but I found I don't get any usable compost.  The chickens eat it or distribute it through the yard. I think we just don't have enough to make it work.
Good luck to you.

Stacy Witscher wrote:Then I would suggest not to free feed. I like to make them work for their food. If their egg production were to drop without other explanation, or they looked thin or ill, then I would up their feed. Chickens are going to have preferences just like people, sometimes it takes a little encouragement to get them to eat the things we want them to.

Definitely this. They currently have little incentive to eat anything that isn't notably tastier than the feed you are providing...

I had about a dozen growing dual purpose chickens last year for maybe 4 months, I think they got 60kg of pellets in total. They were in a quarter acre paddock that was shared with the pigs in smaller sections, heavily planted with daikon radish, some buckwheat, some corn... they moved to the tomato/squash garden after the first freeze.

I was worried I might be underfeeding, but they stayed healthy and when the roos went to freezer camp they had plenty of meat and a little fat on them, so it seems to have worked.

This year I got much less forage planting done, so they are starting off unfenced with effectively unlimited space, and will move into the larger paddock with lusher growth in early summer, and the quarter acre paddock after garden harvest... time will tell.

I forgot to mention the best way I have found to cut feed costs.  You get enough chickens so your getting more eggs then you need, and sell the extra.  
My sister in law insists on paying me 20.00$ for 3 dozen eggs a week.  She even gives me her old egg containers. It's very little extra effort on my part, I gather eggs everyday day anyway. I can't convince her other wise, so she insists the eggs be refrigerated. It takes me about 3 and a half days to get 3 dozen, then I text her and she picks them up.  Now I know I'm extremely lucky, but I think you can sell organic free range chicken eggs for 4 to 7 dollars a dozen depending on where you live.  With a little research you can find out how much you can get. Figure how much feed will be, how many eggs you need, then how many extra eggs to pay for it.  My organic layer crumbles and organic scratch cost me about 42.00 a month for 19 hens ( though I just learned scratch warms a chicken internally, so the cost will be half because I will stop feeding scratch for the summer.).  Every 4 to 5 months I buy a 50 lb bag of wheat and barley. The wheat is 15.00 and the barley is 20.  So if I round it together it's 50 a month to feed them organic and fermented food.  I'm getting 80. So I get a 30.00 profit each month and still have more than enough eggs for my family.  I keep the profit because I know in the winter I will have less eggs.  Some of the breeds I have are supposed to lay year round, but just in case I will have the money for feed, even if I can't sell eggs this winter.  It's not for everyone, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Besides free ranging, and not buying feed at all, it's probably the only way to keep chickens with no cost.

An observation: There are two types of chickens when they free range and you provide some grain type food.

One type just likes lots of greens and whatever else lives in them,. often will ignore grain until feel a bit peckish and then eat some.
The others go for grain and when they have had their fill, then will show interest in greens.

I suggest depending which chicken you have how much grain is eaten by what proportion of chickens and that translates to how many eggs how often.

Sean from Edible Acres has a video series on chicken composting.

He reports that his system allows him to feed his chickens efficiently with sprouting grain layered in compost piles. The chickens will forage for edibles/grains and turn over the compost with time. I do think this is a promising system to help stretch feed.

I really enjoy those videos, and thought about doing something like that on a smaller scale. what keeps me from it is knowing I don't have enough materials to compost. ( I'm pretty sure he also gets additional compostables) I would have to bring in out sourced stuff to compost. Maybe I can do it someday, but right now I have enough on my plate. Just something to think about. Good luck

I also ferment the food for my flock (chickens and geese): 1 portion wheat, 1 portion split peas, half portions of barley, rye, lentils, in buckets. The amount they eat daily is variable. They are free ranging, and on rainy days where lots or earthworms are coming up, they eat substantially less grain. The peas and the lentils are the less popular grains, and if there is any left over at the end of the day, the next day has a smaller amount offered.  

I am thinking about Azolla as an addition.... got started with a few little plants - it does grow fast, and the chickens and geese like it. Thinking next try is with the rabbits.  Anyone else adding Azolla to feed? Big advantage that it can be produced on the farm and does not need to be purchased / brought in.