Ninjago
Member
- Location
- south shropshire
My
i concur
I concur, I’m on six times a day which is industry standard. Can’t understand how you could get enough feed into them, feeding only 2 or 3 times a day.
hen multi tier systems lifespan
- Thread starter henman
- Start date
Only
Member
- Location
- Powys/Shropshire border
6 here as well
I used to feed at least 6 or 7 times a day when I first started, found if you feed 3 times you get a good depth of meal around the whole shed , found when feeding 6 times the feeders never came back full enough some hens losing out,,as for being there , it doesn't happen often but now and then you can get dusty meal blockages or a hole in a pipe and 10 ton lying on the ground , it has happened, plus I turn of feeders when they hit 1650 kgs it's the only way of making a few bob, most people feed around 2 ton,
Why feed 6 times
Frodo
Member
- Location
- Scotland (east)
Just what I was told to do and as others say it’s the industry standard. I would think skimping on feed is fools economy and they seem more interested in feed when it’s moved around.
it may be you have more feed in the track and I would slightly worry about wastage if the track is too full.
Never went over 1700kgs in the last 5 flocks , hens are kept in for 94 weeks, save slightly over 2 ton per week on meal , more fool me
Frodo
Member
- Location
- Scotland (east)
106g per day is good going. It would be good to have feed weighing. I always budget on 125g, which as you say is 2 tonne a day.
First few flocks would have been 125g per hen, that was listening to firms field officers who were just out of college and knew more about hens than I knew about aeroplanes,
Daniel
Member
- Location
- Mildenhall, Suffolk
Surely they aren't getting enough energy if you are limiting their intake that much?
Always thought with the 6 feeds ,the half of the shed suffered ,as only a trickle of meal would ever come back fully around, and that was with feeding 2 ton, with 3 feeds your taking inch and a half of meal fully around whole shed, 38 Dzn per bird last flock at 93 weeks
Daniel
Member
- Location
- Mildenhall, Suffolk
Are you aiming for medium size eggs on an all egg contract?
wellingtonfarmer
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire
What birds you got going to 94 weeks?
Sh
Sorry, I forgot to say, I'm paid per egg, so the secret is to keep the shed as warm as possible, This keeps the hunger of the hens, and keeps the egg small, which is easy on the hen and easy on electricity, all the eggs are going to be liquid egg,
Shavers , we mental bast#rds,
Chickenfarmer
Member
Depends on you stocking density but twice a day is nowhere near enough if you are on a 16k or 32k site etc. As previous poster has said, you should be minimum 5 feeds per day, possibly up to 6. Every 3 hours is what I usually do
Found the meal was very skimpy going around with 5or 6 feeds, with 3 feeds they get there bellys filled every feed,, what made me ask the question was because in holland alot of farmers are doing it in 2 or even 1 feed per day,, maybe they have deeper feeders,
Frodo
Member
- Location
- Scotland (east)
Your egg contract is different, so it obviously works for you. I’m not really with you on why the feed would go skimpy. Is the aim. Not to always have feed in the track, so each time the motor goes it’s just topping up.
How much you feeding them?
Frodo
Member
- Location
- Scotland (east)
Unfortunately I Don’t have feed weighed, but guess 125g which more or less matches how often I order feed.
I know this is a bit simplistic, but the birds aren’t changing weight or vigorously exercising, so any energy shortage is likely to show in egg size or quality.
If you could even cut your your feed by 50 or 60 kg per day, it all adds up over the course of a flock,