Feed on Floor?

[kazslo]

I have 6 pullets and 1 rooster. The pullets always wait for approval from the rooster before eating when I fill up their feeders. I've tried a tray on the floor, a pipe with elbows, and a hang-on-a-wall-corner feeder. For each of them, the rooster tries out the food, then proceeds to use his head and beak to knock the food on the ground, at which point all eat off the floor. By the time I get home in the evening, all the food is on the floor.

The floor is concrete, bedding is pine shavings. The feed gets mixed in with the bedding, and eventually they seem to not give any attention to the old feed. My question is - is it necessary to use a feeder? Can/Should I just put a pile on the floor, since that's where it ends up anyway? Would it make sense to make a square on the floor in the corner with 2x4s or 2x6s and put the feed in there? I was also thinking of getting the smaller feeders like I have for my quail with holes to peck in, but with as brutal as my rooster is I'm sure he'd just knock that apart too.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's one of the jobs of a rooster, he seems to be taking his job seriously, I would try different feeders, there's something about what you are putting it in that's allowing him to do this, you could put the feed on the floor, but I think you're asking for trouble doing that, with mold and rodents. I put mine in a round bowl, but I only put out an amount that I have determined they will consume in one day, if they spoon it out like that they have to eat it off the floor, and they do, so different feeder or less food in it is my suggestion and maybe both.

 

[barneveldrerman]

You still need a feeder and are you using hanging feeders. On wall feeders you can put a tray that hangs on the wall so when it falls they can still eat it. They may also be putting the feed on the ground if the feeders are to high. Do the chickens also peck the food out or just the rooster?

 

[LeeSC]

Following. Mine are doing the same thing. More my alpha hen than the rooster.

 

[kazslo]

You still need a feeder and are you using hanging feeders. On wall feeders you can put a tray that hangs on the wall so when it falls they can still eat it. They may also be putting the feed on the ground if the feeders are to high. Do the chickens also peck the food out or just the rooster?

On the rare occasion that the hens make it to the food first, they eat out of the feeders without tossing the food around. Once the rooster gets there though, he eats briefly out of the feeder and spills out the rest, with the hens preceding to eat off the ground. I'm going to take a trip over to the feed store this weekend and take a look at any other feeders they might have.

 

[Den in Penn]

I don't like most of the plastic commercial feeders they sell today. Most of their bowls/troughs are too shallow and allow the birds to easily toss the feed out. Try to find one that has sides at least a half an inch to and inch higher then where the feed is feed into the bowl. When I made my feeders I made them around two inches. Of course with the open trough, that I pour the feed in, I can control how much below the sides the feed rests.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Use 1 or 2 extra large metal dog bowls. Those are made to be heavy enough so they do not tip over, and the walls should be high enough your rooster cannot fling the food out.