Farmer Joe's Flock Word Problem

[Roan]

Hi there, a friend of mine, we'll call him "Farmer Joe" has the following dilemma and has asked for our help in solving it.

One morning, Farmer Joe went out to feed his flock. He has 37 chickens and feeds them 13 scoops of food every morning. Each scoop holds 1.1 kilograms of feed. Unfortunately, the feed sacks are weighed by pounds and hold 50 pounds. So Farmer Joe needs help figuring out the following questions:

1. How many pounds does 1 scoop hold?
2. How many pounds does Farmer Joe feed his flock each day?
3. How many pounds does Farmer Joe feed each chicken per day?

Farmer Joe knows that 1 kilogram = 2.20462262 pounds.

Each evening, Farmer Joe gathers up all of the left over feed for the day and scoops it back into the feed bin. He returns 5 scoops to the bin, so he needs to know:

1. How many pounds of food does Farmer Joe return to the bin?
2. How many pounds of food does each chicken leave per day?
3. How many scoops of food do Farmer Joe's chickens eat per day?
4. How many pounds of food does each chicken eat per day?
5. How long will 1 bag of food last Farmer Joe if the chickens eat the same amount every day?
6. If the average month has 30.4375 days, how many bags of feed will Farmer Joe need to get through 1 month?

Though this is a word problem and "homework," this is not for grading purposes. I am "Farmer Joe" and this is the data I know and what I need to know for flock management. Every time I run this data, I get answers that do not match reality.

For instance: I currently have over 2 bags of feed remaining, having bought 3 bags on 12/17/14 and it is now 12/24/14. So it's been 7 days.

The answer I get for Part 2 Question 5 is 1 bag will last 2.577229377 days. I know this to be wrong so I am hoping someone can show me the right way to figure this out.

Point of understanding: I only "officially" have a 9th grade education so I've learned most of my technique through trial and error which is why, if I posted my work, it would probably only serve to confuse you.

Thanks for the help and taking the time to read this.

 

[Ishuda]

Since the bags are in 50# sacks, convert the scoop to pounds and go from there, i.e.
Each scoop holds 1.1 kilograms of feed = 1.1 * 2.2 = 2.42#
So
13 scoops holds 13 * 2.42# = 31.46#

If you return 5 scoops to the bag each day the net number of scoops used is 8 (=13-5) scoops
8 scoops holds 8 * 2.42# = 19.36#
1 bag (50#) at 8 scoops a day is 50/19.36 = 2.58 days
etc.

EDIT: Looking back over your post, I would say something is wrong. Either you are using much less feed (the amount in one scoop is not 1.1 kg?) or the bag holds more than 50# or maybe someone is sneaking feed into your sacks at night or ...

 

[Roan]

Since the bags are in 50# sacks, convert the scoop to pounds and go from there, i.e.
Each scoop holds 1.1 kilograms of feed = 1.1 * 2.2 = 2.42#
So
13 scoops holds 13 * 2.42# = 31.46#

If you return 5 scoops to the bag each day the net number of scoops used is 8 (=13-5) scoops
8 scoops holds 8 * 2.42# = 19.36#
1 bag (50#) at 8 scoops a day is 50/19.36 = 2.58 days
etc.

EDIT: Looking back over your post, I would say something is wrong. Either you are using much less feed (the amount in one scoop is not 1.1 kg?) or the bag holds more than 50# or maybe someone is sneaking feed into your sacks at night or ...

Those are the exact figures I have been getting. I measured the weight in kg's of the scoop's contents (without the weight of the scoop itself) and know that the contents are 1.1 kgs per scoop.

Although I have not personally weighed each bag, I know that the label reads 50 lbs. It is theoretically possible that they could have a bit more but I would not anticipate that much more.

And finally, oh how I wish that someone was sneaking feed into my sacks but somehow I don't think the chicken feed fairy really exists. lol

Thanks for the confirmation!