How to Use Poultry Feeders

Proper feeding practices keep birds healthy and productive.

Chicks and mature poultry need sufficient food and enough space to eat comfortably. Without enough food or space, chicks will not develop properly and chickens may peck at and injure each other. Overfeeding is also a concern, since excess food can spoil and wastes money. Using commercial poultry feeders properly, in combination with proper hygiene and housing, should ensure healthy birds and good-quality eggs.

Things You'll Need

• Chlorine bleach
• Chick feeders
• Starting feed
• Growing mash
• Chicken feeders
• 16-percent protein chicken feed

Instructions

Feeding Chicks

1. Disinfect clean feeders with 1 tbsp. chlorine bleach diluted in a gallon of water.

2. Fill feeders with chick feed. Use starting feed for chicks until they have consumed 2 pounds of feed each. Switch to growing mash until the chicks are 10 weeks old. Also spread out some chick feed on the newspapers that cover the litter in the brooder.

3. Place the feeders in a circular, spoke-like formation. Place waterers on boards in between the "spokes." Give chicks twice as much water as feed.

4. Place enough broiler size chick feeders in a brooder so there is at least one inch of feeding space for every chick. Add more feeders when chicks are three to four weeks old so that there are three inches of feeding space for every chick. If using tube feeders, use three tubes for every 100 chicks.

Feeding Mature Poultry

1. Fill chicken feeders half full with chicken feed.

2. Place the feeders at the backs of the birds, allowing four to five inches of feeding space for each chicken.

3. Place a four foot waterer for every 100 birds. Make sure to clean the waterers daily.

4. Replace the chicken feed every day -- always fill the feeders halfway.

References

• Mississippi State University Cooperative Extension Service; 4-H Poultry Manual -- Unit Two; Dr. Tom W. Smith