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#445285 04/25/16 09:00 PM
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I have a 4 acre pond a little over a year old and I'm running 2 feeders, pond is stocked with BG, LMB and HSB. The BG are feeding like wildfire the LMB and HSB were just put in this spring. I know you are supposed to feed them all they will eat in 10 minutes or so but I think they would eat 20 pounds per feeding. I guess I'm just trying to figure out what is normal. How many pounds a week or month are some of you guys feeding? Just curious.

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I'm currently feeding about 3 pounds per acre per day. I may get as high as 4 or maybe 5# but I stop at 5. I'm like you in that my fish would eat a lot more if fed multiple times per day. I'm feeding once at the 3 pounds level but if I feed more than that do it in two feedings. All hand fed.

Bill Cody had warned that above 10# of feed per acre could very well cause water quality issues so I have self limited to half that.

That is in one 3 acre pond, a one acre pond, and a three small fractional acre ponds for a little over 4 acres total. BG and CC (up to about 3#)are what I see eating.

I don't think I want to afford more than 5# per acre per day for a hobby that doesn't make me any money.

Not that any of the above is correct, just what I do.


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I always heard 3 minutes. And even that can get $$$$.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

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Corkman, I would think Dave is most likely correct. @ my place the fish are getting a total of 56 second throws per feeder or about 3 min total on my 3.5 acre pond. And yes they would eat more because they will eat and eat and eat. And I am thinking that is a lot of poop, a natural fertilizer, so I monitor the water clarity using a sushi dish.

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It all depends on your budget. I wouldn't feed more than they can eat in 15 minutes, but you can feed less. I am not managing the fish in my personal pond to primarily eat fish pellets, I am using it as supplemental food. In my 1 ac pond, I feed between 50 and 100 pounds of feed per month. Can they eat more? I'm sure they could.


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2 feeders, 11 acre BOW, 5# a day for the 10 months I throw food. For my CNBG, that seems to be enough.


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Can't base it on feeder run time per feeding as different feeders and feeds make a big difference. No more than 10 lbs per acre per day and that is a lot. That rate can cause water problems and is suggested against. Another common measure is no more than they can eat in 3 min.

Last edited by ewest; 04/26/16 03:41 PM.















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Thanks everyone. This is just what I was looking for. I was just worried about over feeding. Your suggestions give me enough info that I feel like I can feed more than I'm feeding now without doing any harm. I was only running 5 seconds on each feeder twice a day for a total of 20 seconds a day. I do like to keep them a little hungry because I really enjoy hand feeding when ever I go by. I'm going to double the time and see how they do. Thanks again.

Oh and I am going to try and catch the feed and see exactly how much feed that really is.

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Correction: Weighed it today and I'm only feeding 10# on 4 acres so 2.5# per acre per day.

And based on what others have said I think it will be capped at that. Last year I went heavier than that at times, but I don't want water quality problems and others have had excellent results on less feed so I'm going to call 2.5# good.


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Originally Posted By: FireIsHot
2 feeders, 11 acre BOW, 5# a day for the 10 months I throw food. For my CNBG, that seems to be enough.


Al, how did or do u trap the pellets on the TH feeder and measure the amount in weight? I tried to use bags and sks to catch and measure, but the air used for distributions of the seeds, will fill the sks and pellets go everywhere, in my face etc, not a good feeling to say the least. I thought about duck tape around the sks mouth but have not tried that YET smile

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Tracy, I have used a 5 gallon bucket pressed flat against the slinger, but that's a rarity. Sling the food in the bucket, then weigh bucket and all. I use a baby scale, so it's easy to zero out, and eliminate the bucket weight.

In my case, I purchase 1,500# of food every year, throw it for 10 of those months, and divide that 150# by 30. That gets me to 5# a day split between 2 feeders. I do supplement with live forage though, with CNBG and tilapia. Last year we added 300 pounds of tilapia, with early and late season stockings.

I know you're not supposed to, but I played with my food last week, and found out that a red Dixie cup holds 7.5 oz of fish food. Optimal, Cargill, and Skretting, were all very different in size, but the actual volume weight was almost identical.


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May I suggest just put 5-10 pounds of feed in the feeder and see how many days you get...then divide your feeding times into that. I get about 20-22 days out of 50# of feed for my 2 acre pond. I use one TH feeder.


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WOW you guys feed allot or I am under feeding. We shoot three shots of 2 sec. every ten minutes just at night on our one acre pond. With the last two cold nights I had to turn it back to only one 2 sec shot.

Wheres the heat....... you guys down in Texas send me some would you?


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What kind of feeder are you using? That will determine how much you are throwing out.

Tracy use a larger minnow net or butterfly net over the opening, it will allow the air to flow thru.

Last edited by BrianL; 04/27/16 10:31 AM.

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I tried using a plastic garbage bag over the feeder throw opening. I had holes in the bag when the feed hit it....

Also if you do that make sure you have a heavy pair of gloves on. If you don't, and your hand slips in front of where the feed is coming out, you won't be a happy camper.....


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I have to agree with Eric on this one. For example here is my fish feeder below. If I told you I have a one acre pond and I only feed blah,blah seconds a day that's really not telling you anything cause my feeder is a lot different then say a TH, or a Sweeney or a Moultrie feeder... So as stated above that would some how have to be kinda figured out my poundage per acre. I am in same situation as Eric I am only supplemental feeding so not as a big deal to me as maybe someone else who is feeding only.... As you can see by my pic the Remington deer feeder slings it out there pretty good, but I'm sure not as good or as fast as a TH, Or a SW.... at the same seconds.

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Yesterday, I made several attempts using a 5 gsl bucket, a butterfly net and the empty Cargills pellet sk, and finally a heavy duty garbage bag to catch and weigh the Cargills 1/8" and 1/4" dispersed by my TH feeders. The garbage bag worked best, and I was able to catch and weigh the fish food for comparison when throwing 1/8th verses 1/4". My Texas Hunter feeder does not disperse the 1/4 as well as it does with the 1/8th". I adjusted the spinner plate by dropping the plate with an Allen wrench, for one of two things I did to throw the larger food size. And adding a washer to lower the spinner plate motor. Giving a larger opening for accepting larger sized food. After comparing weights I had to increase the time from 14 seconds to 25 sec when using the larger size food so I could get the same weight.
Each feeder is throwing 1 lb per throw, 4 throws per day per each feeder. Or approx. 3.5 lbs per acre per day. I posted this for some information to others using the TH Feeders and the Cargills fish food.
I learned I have room for more feeding if desired.

Tracy

Last edited by TGW1; 04/29/16 09:58 AM. Reason: sp

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25 seconds per throw; 4 throws daily?


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

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+1 on 25 seconds? That's only dropping a pound? I'm doing 8 seconds twice a day and they fat..... Guess every machine is different

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Originally Posted By: Dave Davidson1
25 seconds per throw; 4 throws daily?


That's right Dave, the larger 1/4" Cargills requires a 25 second throw to deliver one lb of feed but the 1/8th' size only requires 14 seconds to throw a pound.

Pat, I think you may be correct about the feeders may be a little different. I bought a used one, same 250lb size, that is older model and it throws more food than the newer one. Go figure !!

Tracy


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It must come down to how much fish bio mass you have too. My little pond is only four years old and 50# of feed a year is lots. I can't really feed much more than that with out seeing it all over the shore line.

I am guessing heat units as well. We are in the 3000 heat unit area and just started feeding.

Cheers Don.

P.S. will do a weight test on our moultrie feeder for one second.


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I feed a 46 oz tomato juice can full of floating catfish pellets each evening. That's about twice what I was feeding until a month or two ago. I try to time feeding a little before sunset. The fish actually get only about 2/3 of that, and my goats, chicken, and dogs get the rest. The goats bum it off me, and I spill the part the dogs and chicken get. If it's been a nice, warm, sunny day and the wind isn't blowing, the fish have that polished off almost as soon as I've stopped throwing it. But after having an exceptionally clear pond since moving in here a year ago, it has turned murky, and about the only reason I can see for that is that I'm feeding too much.


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