Grandpas vs RentACoop Treadle Feeder

[My Three Chicks]

Last week I discovered rats coming out during the day and eating my chicken feed in the run while they are in there!

I've got an exterminator coming Thursday.

Now I need a treadle feeder for my 6 girls. I've been looking at the Grandpas feeder and the RentACoop feeder. Anyone look into these and can recommend one over the other?

 

[texsuze]

The first critters who learned to use my grandpa feeders were (1) squirrels and (2) cottontail bunnies. Had a squirrel get caught in the hopper once. The banging/clanging of the door opening and closing disturbed my hens. My older hens never used that feeder. Long story, I went back to the standard hanging feeders. Thankfully I have no known rat population but when the snakes are not around to nuke the mice, out come my mouse traps which I put inside chicken-proof cardboard boxes to prevent my hens from getting hurt.

There are also plans and diagrams online for making your own pedal ("treadle") feeders; lots of work but very do-able for someone who likes that kind of thing. Husband made one for me; it is sitting collecting dust in the barn. YMMV.

 

[My Three Chicks]

I ended up buying 1 of each the RentACoop and Grandpas! They are both assembled and in 'training' set-up. I'll probably train them on Grandpas because the 1 step of training mode has the step fully locked down and lid locked open. RentACoop has some movement which I think will make the 1st step of training more difficult.

Haven't put it out there yet only because in training mode it's locked open and I'm still dealing with rats. And I don't want to lug it in and out. They are both heavy!

I looked at Ratproof Feeder too but couldn't find as many reviews on it. And the treadle is just a step and further away from feed. Was concerned that it would be too difficult and far of a reach for my younger birds.

 

[RojoMarz]

I take my Ratproof Feeder in each night (due to bears, not rat... originally purchased because of chipmunks getting into the feed.) Yes it can be heavy and awkward. I don't fill mine full of feed. I only fill it about 1/3 full and that helps keep the weight down.

 

[codewarrior65]

Last week I discovered rats coming out during the day and eating my chicken feed in the run while they are in there!

I've got an exterminator coming Thursday.

Now I need a treadle feeder for my 6 girls. I've been looking at the Grandpas feeder and the RentACoop feeder. Anyone look into these and can recommend one over the other?

I have two Grandpa's Feeders the #40 versions and I am very pleased with them. My issue was with sparrows eating the feed. I also elevate the feeders on platforms, it seems to help when it rains. I am feeding ~20 birds.

 

[Captain13]

Codewarrior65, I, like you really like the Grandpas feeder I have. It works great, it’s easy for the girls to use and I have no pest problems.

 

[RojoMarz]

I have the Ratproof Chicken Feeder and like it.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Last week I discovered rats coming out during the day and eating my chicken feed in the run while they are in there!

I've got an exterminator coming Thursday.

Now I need a treadle feeder for my 6 girls. I've been looking at the Grandpas feeder and the RentACoop feeder. Anyone look into these and can recommend one over the other?

While an exterminator sounds like a good idea the rats are not likely to take bait when they have a steady supply of chicken feed available. Once you have an actual rodent proof feeder those rats will disappear in a few days if you haven't already spent your money on the exterminator. And thank you for bringing up the fact that rats do eat feed during the day so removing the feed at night helps some but not much.

As to the two feeders, both are made in China and who knows what kind of labor is used. China has a ton of child labor and slave labor. I have looked at both feeders and the RentACoop feeder is just slightly better in construction/materials but both require blocking open for weeks due to the guillotine style door. Both have a large number of negative reviews off Amazon and I would read those very carefully because there are a lot of reviews that make it clear that they leak and are NOT rat proof. Or squirrel proof. Or pigeon proof. Or mouse proof. Both are about 50% more expensive than the better feeder with the RentACoop feeder being slightly cheaper.

Both have the same clunky and fragile linkages that are prone to bending and fasteners falling out, both have the same wide step that invites vermin to stand close to the feeder to eat. Both have no spring loaded door to prevent critters from just pushing the lid up and crawling inside. And both have that wide treadle step that has to be kept clean underneath or it will not open.

On the plus side, if you order from Amazon you can return the feeder for almost any reason if it doesn't work out for you. They have no compunctions about re selling the returns, indeed there are negative posts about that very thing. Chicken disease is a real danger, feeders ought to be destroyed if they have been used or even opened up by a flock owner or feather daddy/momma.

Read those negative reviews. The positive reviews are usually people that just needed a feeder and any sort of treadle feeder is better than none but the negative reviews were the folks with real rodent problems and that is the test standard, not a new flock without a rodent problem.

So do your research and protect your hard earned money! You are smart in dealing with the first step of rat control, sanitation, before trying the other two steps which are exclusion and extermination.

Edit: Oh, you are from Seattle. You guys have epic rat problems there, Washington state is usually one of the states that we sell the most feeders to.

 

[Al Gerhart]

It is good that their feeder has worked out for you.

But, their feeders have been made in China since the early 2000's. GAODENG FURNITURE CO., LTDXINTIAN, if they have ever been made in Mexico it doesn't show up on the import records. And the only treadle feeder out of the Philippines was our feeders between 2015 and 2019, then Covid hit. Here is a link to Grandpa feeders import records. They do business under Fowl Play and you can verify that by clicking on the About tab at this link. https://www.importgenius.com/importers/fowl-play

I would love to find someone that has bought a Grandpa feeder and found the country of origin marked on the box. So far no one has been able to find that on one of their boxes. That is breaking the law BTW.

The owners of the Grandpa feeder have been reacting to the criticism of the point of origin of their feeders and are claiming that some of the feeders are assembled in the U.S. but have offered no proof. And not one shipment shown coming out of Mexico from these U.S. Customs records. This really makes little sense to assemble them here as the labor is around 15 times higher and it isn't the sort of product that can be flat packed. And the assembly on a feeder like this is around 40% of the labor. Even then they would have to market as "assembled in the U.S." And look at the package numbers in their 2023 and 2022 shipments, all but two are in the 8000kg range and the package number is consistent for a 40' container. The two odd ball shipments might have been a 20' container due to a lack of product due to Covid in 2021 and 2022.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I used to believe that the bar codes were indicators but a few months ago a gentleman on this very site debunked that for us. Anyway, Fowl Play is Grandpa feeders, not a broker.
This is the info from the U.S. Customs data off the Import Genuis page on their company:

• Importer
  
  Fowl Play
• T A Grandpas Feeders Oia, 14601 N Bybee Lake Ct, Portland, Or 97203, Usa

As you can see it matches the info on the pages of their own website, so Fowl Play is Grandpa feeder, again, not a broker. And all imports go through U.S. Customs including truck shipments. The info on Import Key matches the Import Genius data, and like I said, it all comes directly from the U.S. Customs import records. https://importkey.com/i/fowl-play

Your importyeti source had more info but again, 95% of the products are coming from China but it seems to be chicken swings. I gotta go see what that is. Most of the data was pre covid it seems. https://www.importyeti.com/company/fowl-play-products

Seaair is showing bird feeders. To a logistics broker in that area, you already pointed that out, good find. But it is the same Fowl Play/Grandpa feeder company. Another point you made makes sense, they are using 3PL for distribution which is a lot more effective than company warehousing.

But the product box itself HAS to include the point of origin for all products or their entire shipment can be seized at the port and they would have to pay a fortune to unload, label all the product, and re load after Customs inspection. That is the nightmare, getting inspected by Customs. If the retail box isn't marked with country of origin it could cost them millions in fines and fees as they can go back five years if I recall correctly.

And hey, no flaming here, just a discussion. I learn so much from this site. You are making some good points.