How long can a chicken go without grub

[Sue]

Not mine I hasten to add but I've been watching some other hens on the same allotment and I can't be 100% sure but I don't think they were fed for at least two days.
They're only small, about 12 weeks I think and on Sunday the owner was on the allotment so I thought good, at least they've been fed but when I checked, not a crumb. Yesterday I went up again and feeder still on its side, although they could have knocked it over again and no food. They seemed desperate, running up and down the side of the ark. As I hadn't got any chick crumb I gave them some Robin food which is oily and small crumb and that got hoovered up pretty quickly.
I was worrying again all day when owner finally made an appearance around 5pm.

Sue

[julesapple]

Ohmygosh....I'd have felt the same!

Did he feed them at 5pm when he turned up?

Is he the sort of person you can chat to, or would he get antsy if you offered him a few friendly words of advice? Or maybe you could pin a note to the coop advising him that the chooks must be fed every day?

If it carries on then I wouldn't hesitate to call DEFRA or RSPCA (I hope your branch our better than ours, who are currently ignoring the plight of 40+ BOPs badly treated at a falconry near us)

Jules

[Nicos]

I think maybe a friendly chat is the first line of approach- maybe they are just being greedy- or could it be that rats are eating food at night which is meant to last them the next day????

I'd never consider reporting anyone unless I knew for sure.

My birds free range but as soon as I appear they go mad for treats..you'd never believe there was any insect life/seeds left in the field for them to eat- although their croups are generally quite full, they act as if they are starving.

It's good to be concerned though

[Bramble-Poultry]

That is of course 1 way to know if they are eating - look at thier crops, there will be a bulge slightly if they have food in them.

Keep a diary of everytime you have noticed that there is no food or water in the run and the state of their crops, then you can be sure in your head, also it will help the RSPCA if you need to call them.

The best option is to start up a dialogue with the guy - say you noticed he too kept chickens and aren't they lovely, ask him where he gets his food, offer to help him look after them if he wants to go away for a few days etc etc etc you know casual conversation! - don't go all out an accuse him on the first meeting and cause tension - you can then build this up over a few days to suggest maybe they do not have enough food.

Also if you have offered to help him out and already commented on his chickens then maybe he won;t get funny if ever he comes up the lottie at the exact point you are looking into the run and sprinkling a few treats!!

[pdblake]

I don't know about anyone else but I fill my feeders on a night and cover them (saves time in the morning), when I let the birds out the next morning they empty the lot in a matter of minutes, then move onto their greens and scratching. They spend more time sunbathing thatn anything else. When I get home from work and give them some corn you'd think they'd been starved all day. Their crops are always full.

Just because you can't see food in the feeders that doesn't mean they're not getting fed. Water is a different thing altogether though, they should always have water.

[bluemoon]

We've started putting their feeder indoors as we're sick of finding the whole lot made into paste by the rain. I've seen a large feeder with a 'hat', but until I've saved up the £35 to buy it I'm sure people will think that my girls are not being fed.

[Bramble-Poultry]

I saw a fantastic idea the other day - and certainly not gonna cost you £35. The guy had the normal feeders but but he had a plant pot saucer (plastic one) as big as you can get and he had turned it over and screwed it to the top of the feeder - they are quite cheap and as each feeder is differen im sure you can work out a way to attach it.

[bluemoon]

I saw a fantastic idea the other day - and certainly not gonna cost you £35. The guy had the normal feeders but but he had a plant pot saucer (plastic one) as big as you can get and he had turned it over and screwed it to the top of the feeder - they are quite cheap and as each feeder is differen im sure you can work out a way to attach it.

How brilliant is that? AND I've to go to Homebase anyway this afternoon so I'll definitely be picking a saucer up. The feeder itself is a large plastic one, with a carry handle, I'm sure the holey things (hope that's not too technical) where the handle fits could be used to fix it to.

[Bramble-Poultry]

We have the sort with the wing nuts so we just have to drill a hole and then put it over the metal spike before we tighten the wing nuts - just need mike to get me some - hes gonna look in wilkinsons at lunch time!

If all else fails a self tapping screw into the feeder should do it!

[RichmondHens]

We have the big feeders with "hats" which are fine except in windy weather, when they tend to get blown over, as I don't put much feed in at a time. They are designed to take half a bag of feed but I won't put this amount out as I carry the feeders in and out morning and evening (to prevent rats getting at it overnight) and this would make them too heavy to lug around.

They also get knocked over by randy cocks chasing hens around first thing in the morning!

[MaureenHall]

I've got a big one with a "hat" that gets blown off regularly! The other one is a trough type and both are brought in at night, mainly because I'm not keen on feeding the local rat population but also because of the rain making the food into a mushy mess. I've got half a gazebo over the trough to keep the food dry and to give the girls a bit extra shelter - not that they ever use it for shelter!!

[pdblake]

We have our feeder hanging from the roof of the run and just tie a plastic bag over it over night. All that's needed in the morning is to take the bag off and open the pop hole

[Snadger]

I only feed my chooks about once a fortnight .............but they get a 20KG dollop to fill the feeder. It's hung in the shed/coop and they feed themselves.!

[tlck9]

My chucks have 3x feeders, but all are removed at nighttime, they dont have room in their for themselves, food and water. But they dive out of a mornign for their food and water...

In fact, quick question....

In the winter, I was worried about the length of time they will not have water, eg when I shut them u at 5pm (dark nights) and when I open them at 7/8am
being an allotment, I dont want to be opening them while its dark as foxes etc will still be around

the ark really isnt big enough for provision, so how do people work with this?

[MaureenHall]

During the winter I still moved the food out of the run at night and didn't leave any in the coop at night either. The pellet feeders are refilled every morning no matter what time of year it is. The chooks had a hot mash of porridge and mixed corn just before bedtime to make sure they went to bed with full crops of warming food. They were all absolutely fine, and they don't eat when they're asleep in the dark anyway