Chicken feed and feeders: types, automatic feeders, and how much to feed

A 6 lb hen will eat roughly 3 lb of feed each week — a figure the University of Minnesota Extension states plainly — which means a flock of six runs through close to 18 lb a week before a single egg is counted. That feed is the largest running cost of keeping chickens, and two decisions control it: which ration you buy for the bird in front of you, and what you pour it into. This guide sorts the feed types by the bird’s life stage and purpose, works out how much to feed by age and by day, and then walks the feeder options — trough, hanging gravity, treadle, and the homemade PVC builds — with an eye on capacity, waste, and rodents. If you are still choosing birds, our guide to raising chickens for eggs covers breeds and laying yield; this piece is about feeding them well once they arrive.

Match the feed to the bird’s job

That weekly feed bill buys nothing if the ration is wrong for the bird, so the first job is matching feed type to life stage and purpose. Commercial bagged feeds are built around two moving numbers — protein and calcium — and both shift as a bird ages or depending on whether it is destined for eggs or meat. The University of Georgia Extension lays the stages out cleanly: a pullet starter at 20% protein for weeks 1 to 6, a grower at 17% for weeks 7 to 18, and a laying hen ration of 16 to 18% protein with 3.50 to 4.50% calcium once she is in production at 19 weeks and beyond.

The reason you cannot simply feed one bag to every bird is that calcium, not protein, sets the hard boundary. A layer ration carries the calcium a hen needs to build eggshells, and that same load is wrong for a growing pullet. Penn State Extension frames the laying-flock program the same way: an 18 to 20% protein starter for the first 6 to 8 weeks, a 14 to 15% grower or developer to 18 weeks, then a 16 to 18% layer ration with a calcium source offered free-choice in a separate feeder. Read those two extension sources together and the switch points are consistent across the country.

Starter, grower, and layer

Three rations carry a laying flock from hatch to the egg basket. Starter is the high-protein chick feed for the brooder weeks; the University of Minnesota Extension notes a starter mash is generally fed for the first 6 to 8 weeks. Grower or developer is the lower-protein ration that takes a pullet through her teenage weeks without overloading her with calcium she cannot yet use. Layer feed — sold as pellets, crumble, or whole-grain mash — is the production ration, and you move a pullet onto it at about 20 weeks or her first egg, whichever comes first. A combination starter/grower ration is common at feed stores and works fine for both early stages.

A flock raiser or all-flock ration deserves its own mention, because mixed backyard flocks rarely sort themselves by age. An all-flock feed runs a moderate protein level — often around 18% — and carries little added calcium, on the assumption that the laying hens will take what they need from a dish of oyster shell on the side. That is the practical fix when you keep chicks, pullets, roosters, and hens in one run and cannot manage three separate feeders.

Meat birds and broilers

Birds raised for the table eat on a different schedule entirely. A meat bird grows fast and needs more protein up front: the University of Minnesota Extension calls for a chick starter of 22 to 24% protein for at least the first week and up to week four, then a finisher of no less than 18 to 19% protein for the rest of the grow-out. UGA’s table agrees, listing a broiler starter at 22% and a finisher at 18%. The volumes are larger too — it takes about 5 lb of feed to reach 6 weeks and 8 to 9 lb by 8 weeks on commercial strains.

Medicated, organic, and soy-free

Beyond the stage rations sit the choices that confuse new keepers most. Medicated chick starter carries a coccidiostat — a drug added to feed at low levels and fed continuously to prevent coccidiosis, in the words of Mississippi State University Extension, which lists amprolium among the common ones. Replacement pullets stay on a coccidiostat feed until about 16 weeks, then switch to a nonmedicated ration, because mature chickens develop resistance to coccidiosis once they have met a mild infection. Chicks started on a coccidiosis vaccine should skip medicated feed, since the drug would cancel the vaccine.

Organic and soy-free feeds change the ingredients, not the targets. A certified-organic layer ration still aims for that 16 to 18% protein and the calcium; it simply sources them from certified-organic grains. A high-protein or soy-free formula swaps soybean meal for field peas, flax, or fish meal to hit the same number for keepers avoiding soy. The targets do not move. No label overrides the stage rule — the calcium timing and protein band hold regardless of the marketing on the bag.

How much to feed, by age and by day

Those rations only work if the amount is right, and the amount tracks the bird’s size and stage. The anchor figure is the one from the University of Minnesota Extension — a 6 lb hen eats roughly 3 lb of feed a week — which works out to a little under half a pound, close to 0.4 lb, per bird per day for a standard laying hen. A flock of six therefore needs about 18 lb a week. That number is not fixed: feed consumption rises in winter when birds burn more calories to stay warm and falls in the heat of summer.

Over a bird’s growing life the totals add up in a predictable way. The same extension service reports that Leghorn pullets eat 16 to 18 lb per bird from hatch to 20 weeks of age — the full cost of raising a layer to her first egg. Heavier dual-purpose breeds eat more. For meat birds the curve is steeper and shorter, hitting 8 to 9 lb of feed by 8 weeks. Knowing these totals lets you buy feed in the right quantity and size a feeder that does not need refilling twice a day.

Free-choice or scheduled

Most backyard layers do best on free-choice feeding — a full feeder they can visit whenever they like, since a hen self-regulates and eats to her roughly 0.4 lb a day. This is the default for laying flocks and the reason a larger-capacity feeder is convenient. Scheduled or restricted feeding has 2 real uses: slowing fast-growing broilers to prevent flip disease, and trimming intake for overweight hens that have stopped laying. For the average laying flock, leaving complete feed available all day is both simpler and better.

Grit and oyster shell on the side

Two supplements sit beside the main ration, and confusing them is common. Grit is hard, insoluble stone the bird swallows to grind feed in its gizzard — the only 1 of a bird’s organs built for mechanically breaking down food, as a peer-reviewed study in PeerJ describes. Birds on open ground pick up enough grit naturally, but confined birds, or any flock fed whole grains, should be offered commercial grit free-choice. Oyster shell is the opposite: a soft, soluble calcium source for laying hens that supplies the 3.50 to 4.50% calcium a layer ration carries, offered in a separate dish so each hen takes what her shells demand. Oyster shell is not grit and does not grind; grit is not calcium. Offer both, separately, and let the birds choose.

Choosing a feeder

Knowing the ration and the daily amount, the next decision is the feeder itself — and the choice shapes how much of that feed reaches the bird rather than the floor or a rat. The 4 common designs trade off capacity, waste, and pest resistance. A simple trough is cheap and lets many birds eat at once but spills easily and invites contamination. A hanging gravity feeder holds more and, raised to the right height, cuts spillage. A treadle or automatic feeder seals the feed between visits. And the homemade PVC and bucket builds offer big capacity for a few dollars.

Whatever the style, two sizing rules hold. Penn State Extension calls for 3 inches of feeder space per bird so every hen can eat without bullying, and warns that the trough should be filled only one-third to one-half full to prevent wastage. The University of Minnesota Extension adds the capacity rule of thumb for tube and gutter feeders: a feeder gives space to up to 25 mature birds per 5-foot length. Size for the flock you have, with a little headroom for the birds you will inevitably add.

Gravity, trough, and hanging feeders

The workhorse of most coops is a hanging gravity feeder — a tube or hopper that refills a tray from above as birds eat. A five-gallon bucket version, like Hog Slat’s Feather Feeder, holds about 25 lb of feed, enough to leave a small flock unattended for several days, and its smooth surface wipes clean. Hung so the lip sits at the birds’ back height, it forces them to stand and reach, which keeps droppings and bedding out of the feed and reduces what gets billed onto the floor. A flat trough is the budget option and fine for a handful of birds, but it scatters feed and fouls quickly, so it suits small or temporary setups best.

Treadle and automatic feeders

A treadle feeder is the strongest answer to waste and pests. A bird steps on a hinged plate, a counterweighted lid lifts, and the feed is exposed only while the bird is standing there. Activation weight is adjustable — on the Feedomatic design, settable from a minimum of 250 g up to 2 kg — so a 30 g mouse or a sparrow cannot trip it, and the feed stays sealed and dry between visits. Trade-offs are cost and a training period: new birds need a week or two to learn the step, and very light bantams may struggle with a heavy setting. For flocks plagued by rodents or wild birds, a treadle feeder pays for itself in saved feed.

DIY: PVC and bucket feeders

For keepers who would rather build than buy, the PVC pipe feeder and the five-gallon bucket feeder are the classic projects. The University of Minnesota Extension describes fashioning feeders from used rain gutters or from PVC pipe bought at any hardware store — inexpensive, durable, and giving space to up to 25 birds per 5-foot length. A vertical PVC tube with an elbow at the base makes a gravity feeder that holds days of feed in a small footprint; a bucket fitted with feed ports does the same with more capacity. Hung from the ceiling to force the birds to stand while eating, a homemade feeder also reduces the manure and bedding that ends up in the feed. One catch remains: an open PVC or bucket feeder still feeds rats unless it has a lid or sits inside a secured coop.

Cutting waste and keeping rodents out

Those feeder choices all circle the same problem — spilled and exposed feed is wasted feed, and it draws vermin. The fixes are mostly free and come in 3 parts. First, height: the University of Minnesota Extension advises placing feeders so the trough sits at the level of the chickens’ backs, which alone reduces spillage by stopping birds from billing feed sideways onto the ground. Second, fill level: a trough filled only one-third to one-half full, per Penn State Extension, gives birds less to rake out. Third, enough feeder space — about 3 inches per bird — that every bird eats at once, so none get desperate enough to scratch through scattered feed.

Three ways to cut spill

• Raise it — hang the feeder so its lip sits at the birds’ back height, the single biggest cut to sideways spillage.
• Underfill it — keep a trough only one-third to one-half full so there is less to rake onto the ground.
• Size it — give every bird about 3 inches of feeder space so none crowd out and scatter feed.

Shutting out rats and mice

Rodents are the second front, and they are not a minor nuisance — spilled grain and an open feeder overnight are an open invitation to rats and mice. The most reliable defenses are mechanical. A treadle feeder seals the feed behind a weighted lid set to need 250 g or more to open, which a 30 g mouse cannot lift. Lifting feeders off the ground, emptying or closing them at night, and storing the feed bag itself in a sealed metal can all cut the food supply that sustains a rodent population. A clean, low-spill feeding setup is the cheapest pest control on the homestead.

Feeders and waterers together

A feeder is only half the daily station — water is the other half, and the same cleanliness logic applies. A laying hen will tolerate no real shortfall here: Penn State Extension warns never to let hens go without water for more than 12 hours or egg production drops or stops. The same source gives the sizing — at least 5 gallons of water for every 100 birds daily, and 1 inch of water space per bird. Whatever the vessel, set its lip at the birds’ back height, the same as the feeder, to keep droppings and litter out.

Match the waterer style to the feeder. A bucket-and-port system pairs naturally with a bucket feeder; a hanging bell waterer sits well beside a hanging gravity feeder; and nipple-drinker systems keep water cleanest of all, since the birds draw from a sealed line rather than the open trough that 1 inch of water space per bird otherwise implies. Clean the waterer and refill it with fresh water daily — stale or fouled water cuts intake as surely as an empty trough, and a hen that drinks less eats less and lays less. If your flock free-ranges across pasture, our guide to raising pastured chickens explains why birds on grass still need a full feeder and waterer despite all that forage.

The takeaway

Feeding chickens well is two clear decisions made repeatedly. First, buy the ration that matches the bird — about 20% starter, 17% grower, 16 to 18% layer with calcium, or a 22% broiler feed for meat birds — and offer grit and oyster shell free-choice on the side. Second, pour it into the right feeder: one that gives every bird 3 inches of space, sits at back height, and keeps feed dry and sealed against rats, whether that is a hanging gravity feeder, a treadle feeder, or a PVC build you made for a few dollars. Get those two decisions right and a 6 lb hen on her 3 lb a week will repay the feed bill in eggs, with very little going to the floor or the mice. If you are just getting started, our walk-through on starting a small laying flock pulls the housing, feeding, and daily care together.