Trigger or Spring Feeders

[Magoonichicks]

Just purchased my trigger! thanks everyone for this post! the trigger was the only thing i needed to buy as i already have food grade plastic buckets and lids and tons of scrap wood!

 

[ernie85017]

Automatic Chicken Feeder / Self Service / www.triggerhappychickens.com


This is what I have used. Not expensive and works great.

 

[Anticlockwise]

Although I am ordering a trigger from TriggerHappyChickens, I was stimulated to get an automatic feeder after visiting a guy who had made his own feeder based on the same principle. He had nothing more than an open padlock hooked inside a hole in the bottom of a clear plastic tub filled with pellets and standing on a wooden homemade frame. The chickens pecked at the padlock hanging down under the tub and then scrambled for the feed that dropped down. The clear plastic tube made it easy to see when it needed refilling.

 

[KristinLLB]

Got my trigger, got my bucket. Hole drilled last night. Today we try it.

Cue the "dun dun dun" sound effect.

Advice anyone?

 

[WOJO]

How long did it take your chickens to take to the trigger? I added that and my watering nipples at the same time. They took right to the watering nipples but have yet to figure out the triggers. I have a 5 gallon buck sitting on top of a stand I built with a hole so the trigger can stick through. I think they went a few days before I decided to give them food. They just did not figure it out. I'm hoping when I add them to there coop in the next few weeks I can make the stand higher and they will get it. They can walk under the stand that I built for the bucket as of now.

 

[WOJO]

My chickens figured out the watering nipples in 10 minutes, but this trigger thing has not worked. They must be stupid or something. I even added some aluminum foil around it to attract them and they still did not get it. So I ended up drilling a holes around the base of a 5 gallon bucket and put a galvanized tray under it screwed to the bottom and this works fine. I just hope I don't get any other animals in the coop.

 

[Kristinanne80]

It took my chickens awhile to learn. I found that I had to drill the hole bigger so that they barely had to touch it and food would fall out. Now that they know how to use it I will be making the hole smaller. I think had I made the hole bigger from the start they would have gotten it wayyyyy sooner. Lol.

 

[oldcaptainrusty]

Have been using the trigger feeder for quite sometime now. When I first introduced it to my girls it took them a couple of hours to figure it out. I drilled the hole a little larger than was recommended because I feed pellets. It has really saved on the feed and I am confident that it's my girls getting the feed for the most part. I'm sure the local varmints get a little from what's left after my girls get through feeding but it is no where near what it used to be when I was using a bulk feeder. I bought my trigger from the gent that makes them in the UK, considering how much money I have saved over the year that I have been using it, I think it is money well spent.
I use a 5 gallon pickle bucket procured from a local sandwich shop (it holds 25#s of pellets) that I put on a wood frame that is about 14" off the ground. I put a terra cotta dish underneath it to catch the feed, although my girls keep it full of dirt all the time.
I believe the 12 mm (1/2") hole that he recommends would be fine for laying mash or crumbles. I love my chicken trigger feeder.

 

[dragonfly08]

I was ready to buy the trigger from the UK, until I saw a suggestion at the end of this older thread:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/533758/automatic-feeder/60
It uses the same concept at the UK-made triggers, but uses an eye-bolt w red wire nut screwed to the end. Since we had all the necessary parts already, we decided to give it a try... And it works fantastically!! I love being able to dump 25lbs of feed into our large hanging pail and not wasting feed! The chickens took up to 2 days to figure it out. And then for a few days, it was only 1 or 2 birds that "got it", which wasn't a problem since they are attached at the hips anyway so they all still ate. Eventually, everyone caught on, even our littlest chicks, who were about 8 wks old at the time. We put a large terra cotta dish underneath and they seem to like the soft "clink clink" of the crumbles falling down onto the dish.
I have recommended this trigger to everyone I know who has chickens. I got so sick of seeing overturned dishes and piles of feed spilled into the ground. And, the PVC feeder often would get "stuck", requiring jiggling and pounding every day.

 

[canesisters]

I have used the "Trigger Happy Chickens" system for about 2 years now and LOVE IT!!
When I first set it up (and everytime I introduce new birds to the coop) I painted the tip of the trigger with fire engine red nail polish. That got everyone's attention and all it took was one peck for them to realize what was going on.
I have mine in the bottom of a trash can and can get almost 100lbs in there at a time. That's a once a month fill-up (or longer). I take the top off at least once a week just to make sure that everything is as it should be.
I love being able to take off for a weekend and not worry about the girls having food. Add in a couple of 5gal waterers and now almost all the time that I spend in the coop is just being with the girls and not doing chores.
This weekend I'm adding a 2nd trash can feeder so that I can offer high protein flock builder pellets in one and the laying pellets in the other (currently they're mixed).