Making sure your flock is fed properly is a key component of chicken keeping. However, what if you have to take a temporary break, like a trip or vacation? Can the birds go for an extended period of time without food? The research unambiguously supports this.
How long can chickens go without food? In general, a chicken can go for no more than 4–5 days without their regular food, as they’ll be quite malnourished after this point.
Chickens are renowned for being self-sufficient, but even though they will always find worms or insects to eat if they are allowed to forage, they still need a healthy, balanced diet to thrive and live long and healthy lives.
Let’s examine the effects of regular feed shortage on your chickens and how to prevent it.
Table of Contents
How Much Food Do Chickens Need Per Day?
Free-range chickens are likely always scratching and foraging throughout the day, and this is largely because of their quick metabolism. Considering their size, chickens can eat a surprising amount of food because they are constantly digesting their food, foraging for food, and using calories to lay eggs.
A chicken’s daily food intake will vary depending on a number of variables, including age, breed, activity level, foraging behavior, and egg production. However, in general, an adult chicken requires ¼ of a pound of food each day.
Can Chickens Survive Without Feed?
Chickens are foraging animals, as was previously mentioned, and they are proficient at turning almost anything they find into food if necessary.
Most chickens can eat anything they find, from grass to insects, if they are given enough space to roam and forage.
However, just because chickens don’t have particular food preferences doesn’t mean that leaving them to forage is the most effective way to keep them.
Their ability to produce eggs and general health may suffer if you let them live off the land, but it might be less expensive.
They may not produce the ideal number of eggs and may be deficient in important vitamins and minerals necessary for good health if they are not given a steady supply of healthy nutrients.
The best option is always high-quality chicken feed.
This is a well-balanced diet that offers all the vitamins and minerals your chickens need to thrive.
However, it also contains enough energy, including both carbohydrates and fats. Both of which are necessary for a variety of different bodily functions that support a healthy metabolism and robust immune system.
The best feed will always be one that is appropriate for your birds’ age and developmental stage.
How Long Can Chickens Go Without Food?
After three to four days of being left alone, chickens will start eating their own eggs, and if they are kept in a flock, they will soon begin pecking at one another. As chickens are known to turn to cannibalism if it’s necessary to survive, eventually your small flock will be reduced to just one or two chickens! This is a likely scenario for chickens in a coop, although it will obviously be unlikely if there is forage available.
It’s difficult to predict how long it will take for free-ranging chickens to become desperate enough to start pecking at other chickens because they can probably live indefinitely as long as there are plants and insects to eat. A chicken left alone in a coop without any food will not survive more than a week before starving to death, and even less time without water.
Although they are skilled foragers, chickens shouldn’t have their health depend on this. While foraging is important for their physical and mental health, feed provides a more balanced diet that is necessary for them to thrive, especially during the winter when there is less forage available.
Read More: How Warm Do Chicks Need To Be?
How to Ensure That Your Chickens Always Have Food and Water?
When keeping backyard chickens, it helpsget a feed dispenser and a chicken watering device from the very beginning. These are useful because you can feed your flock without worrying about it every day by filling the feed dispenser with grain once a week or once a month (depending on size). Water dispensers require much more frequent refilling, but they work similarly.
It is essential to keep the dispensers raised above the ground (a good six inches) to prevent them from filling up with bedding and feces when chickens scratch near them. Since bacteria grows quickly and can cause illnesses and infections in your chickens, you should clean the water dispensers at least once a week. To keep them cool, place water dispensers in the shade.
If you are willing to invest a little more into your backyard chicken setup, you can buy small commercial chicken watering systems, which you can connect to your mains water supply. Then you will only need to keep the mouthpieces clean and never have to worry about replenishing their water.
What to Do With Your Flock When You Go on Holiday?
Don’t give up if you can’t find someone to watch your chickens!You can happily leave your chickens on their own for a weekend, provided that they have lots of food and water, and their coop and run predator-proof.
You can leave your chickens alone for a week if you want to, but you’ll need to have ample grain and water dispensers so they don’t go without.
Another thing to think about when deciding to leave your chickens is the size of their run and whether or not they have access to pasture. Leaving your hens in a small run for a full week might not be a kind thing to do.
For holidays longer than a week, one must either recruit a babysitter or invest in some technology for your backyard chicken setup. For some lovely, fresh eggs, ask a neighbor or friend to clean, refill, and possibly let the chickens out during the day.
The other option is to invest in an automatic feeding and watering system and an automatic door that can be programmed to open in the morning and close before dusk.
As chicken houses can become filthy and unsanitary, it is not recommended to leave your flock for longer than a month. The combination of chicken droppings and bedding rots quickly, building up ammonia and other bio-gasses that put your flock at risk of infection.
If you’re going to be gone for an extended period of time, make sure your chickens have access to plenty of food and water, and let them roam free. Although there is always a chance that they will be attacked by predators, if there are enough high tree roosts and places to hide, they should be safe.
FAQs
Do Chickens Eat and Drink at Night?
I used to make sure to leave some water and food in the chickens’ coop at night when I first started keeping chickens. I soon discovered that they didn’t consume any of it.
As diurnal animals, chickens spend the day being active and the night sleeping on their roosts. As their metabolism slows down while they sleep, they won’t wake up to eat or drink.
How Many Days Can Chickens Go Without Water?
Chickens generally can survive without water for 48 hours or two days, or less if the weather is warm and sunny.
How Long Can Chickens Live Without a Head?
While most beheaded chickens only survive a few minutes after execution, there is a recorded case of a headless chicken surviving for 18 months after a botched beheading.
How Long Do Chickens Live?
Normally 5-10 years.
Final Thoughts
A healthy flock of chickens requires a steady supply of food and water.
In the event that they do survive longer than a week, chickens without access to forage will almost certainly be severely malnourished.
If at all possible, try to limit the amount of time your chickens go without food to no longer than one day.
However, because they are skilled at finding weeds and insects to eat, chickens with access to forage may be able to live indefinitely, but they are likely to be unhealthy and produce subpar or fewer eggs. You must feed your chickens at least ¼ of a pound of feed each day for them to be healthy and content.