When to order feed
The safe rule of thumb: order when you have 3–5 days of feed remaining in the silo, based on current bird age and daily consumption. Consumption rises steadily as birds grow — a shed eating 400kg/day at day 10 might be eating 1,800kg/day by day 35 — so "days remaining" shrinks fast even without a change in silo level.
Use our free Silo Capacity Calculator to convert a level reading into actual kilograms in the silo, then divide by your current daily use to get days remaining.
Avoiding feed spoilage
- Don't overfill — feed sitting too long, especially in humid weather, can bridge (clump and stop flowing freely) or start to mould.
- Rotate stock — where possible, use feed roughly in the order it arrived rather than letting older feed sit at the bottom.
- Check for bridging after wet weather — a silo that suddenly stops flowing normally after rain is a common early warning sign.
Reading your feed-drop timing right
An empty feeder for even a few hours — especially during the grower phase when daily gain peaks — costs growth that's rarely fully recovered later in the batch. Matching feed drops to actual consumption curve (not a fixed weekly schedule) avoids both run-outs and over-fill waste.
Tracking multiple silos across sheds
On a multi-shed farm, each silo's days-of-feed can drift out of sync fast — one shed running ahead of schedule, another about to run dry. Checking every silo's remaining days at a glance (rather than walking the farm to eyeball levels) is the difference between a planned delivery and an emergency call to the feed mill.
FAQ
When should I order feed for a chicken shed silo?
Order when you have 3–5 days of feed remaining, based on current bird age and consumption rate — waiting until a silo is nearly empty risks a run-out if delivery is delayed.
How do I calculate days of feed remaining?
Days remaining = feed currently in the silo (kg) ÷ the shed's current daily consumption rate (kg/day), which rises steadily as birds age.
How does feed spoil in a silo?
Feed left too long, especially in humid conditions, can bridge (clump and stop flowing) or develop mould, both of which reduce effective feed available and can affect bird health.
See days-of-feed for every silo, live
Broiler Base Mate tracks every silo's remaining feed and days-until-empty automatically from your daily readings, with alerts before any shed runs critical.
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