Poultry Feeding: How Much Feed Per Week?

Feeding poultry involves many variables. The amount of food poultry consume is based on the animal's breed, type, activity, feeders, and weather. Laying hens and meat birds have different nutritional requirements. Dual breed chickens need more feed to produce an equal number of eggs because they have to support a heavier body mass. Also, free-loading pests, such as mice and birds, may eat the feed, thus decreasing the amount available to poultry.

  1. Growing Poultry

    • How you feed poultry depends on how it will be used in agriculture.

      The basal metabolite rate is the amount of energy required to keep poultry alive, without growth or production. Therefore, rapid growth requires more protein, fat, vitamins and minerals than slow growth. Broilers, or young chickens specifically raised for meat, need 16 to 24 percent protein. Turkeys require 24 to 28 percent protein. Approximately, two pounds of feed produce one pound of body weight for broilers. If a bird is five pounds at 10 weeks, it will have eaten 10 pounds of feed, or one pound per week. Feed should be available 23 of 24 hours per day. If food containers have large amounts of feed leftover each day, feed less.

    Egg Production

    • Egg production requires larger amounts of feed to fullfill higher energy needs of birds.

      Egg producers need 15 to 17 percent protein in the diet. Egg production needs approximately three times the amount of calcium than non-layers to prevent fatigue and poor egg quality. Younger layers require 3.4 grams of calcium per day, while older layers need 3.8 grams. White leghorn hens must consume at least 25 pounds of feed per 100 birds per day, or 1.75 pounds per week per bird. Other breeds require slightly less. To increase egg production, a person can "challenge" a flock by adding an extra two pounds of feed per 100 birds. If they don't produce more eggs after four days, return to the prior amount.

    Feed Types and Containers

    • Poultry feed exists as three types: mash, pellet and crumbles. Mash is loose milled grain in a medium of fine particle. Usually, mash is used for starter chick feed, which allows chicks access to smaller bits of feed. Compressed units of mash are pellets, and crumbles are broken pellets. Pellets and crumbles may cost more, but reduce food waste with mash. Feeders need to be one foot long per 25 chicks and 36 inches per 25 adults.Turkeys need 100 inches per 25 turkeys. The amount of food used per week depends on the type of feed, and the type of feeders. Certain types of feeders increase feed waste.

    Other Factors

    • Several factors of poultry management affect the amount of feed needed per week. In colder temperatures poultry need more feed per day to maintain body heat and growth. If the environment is too hot, poultry tend to eat less food. Some breeds grow faster than others. For example, leghorns grow extremely fast, while Cornish grow a bit slower. Clean water availability affects feed consumption. If water is dirty or absent, poultry will not drink enough and feed consumption decreases. Also, increased physical activity boosts weekly feed intake.