Treadle feeder vs "bucket + PVC elbow"?

[techiebabe]

Ah! Yes, sorry, somehow I lost track of that and got fixated on squirrels!

*blushes*

I'll get my coat...

 

[marktoo]

So, I recently made a small treadle feeder out of 1/2" plywood. The darn thing worked fine till the damp weather caused it to swell. Has anyone else had a similar problem? Solutions, besides moving it into the coop. When the rain stops here in a month or so the problem will be eliminated, at least till fall. I'm thinking about switching to aluminum linkages.

 

[aart]

So, I recently made a small treadle feeder out of 1/2" plywood. The darn thing worked fine till the damp weather caused it to swell. Has anyone else had a similar problem? Solutions, besides moving it into the coop. When the rain stops here in a month or so the problem will be eliminated, at least till fall. I'm thinking about switching to aluminum linkages.

Is it in direct exposure to the rain?

 

[marktoo]

It's under cover, it may get a little. The morning dew will stiffen it up however

 

[aart]

Either move it inside and/or find out where it's binding and figure out how to ease those points of interference.
Pretty hard to diagnose and offer a solution on something like that over the internet.....kind of a hands on thing.

 

[MeepBeep]

Although it won't deter birds, to deter the squirrels, mice and other rodents you can try mixing in some bulk cayenne powder into your chicken feed, chickens and most other birds pain receptors don't react to capsaicin to them is actually adds a slight vanilla flavor to the feed, no burning effect or irritation at all.. It can be purchased in bulk quite reasonable online (far cheaper then the spice isle) and as a bonus it will give you a deeper orange yolk color...

But, off course you have to take your own precautions when mixing it in as your pain receptors will fully react to it

 

[marktoo]

Yeah, I know. Thanks! I was just wondering if other folks had similar problems with the ones they made. Think I'll loosen the hardware a bit. I'll get er squared away! I really liked the trigger feeder but the stinking skyrats figured it out!

 

[marktoo]

Backing off on the machine screws on the linkage got the feeder working again. Absolutely no help in training these hens in it's proper use though!