Hi all. I've been keeping chickens for about 2 1/2 years. I now have the dreaded rat problem. I ordered a Grandpa's Feeder as well as the one from ratproofchickenfeeder.net, made by Al Gerhart who I see is active on this forum. I got the Grandpa's feeder last fall, but the starving of my chickens while temps were dropping didn't seem wise. So I started again two weeks ago. In the meantime I had a chicken that needed her own small coop and I was worried about how to train her since the Grandpa's feeder needs some brave souls to try it and show the other chickens. I also needed something with a smaller footprint to fit in her little coop. So I ordered the Rat Proof Chicken Feeder. I wrote a little review that I'll just post here as well.
I ordered a medium Ratproof Chicken Feeder and set it up in a small coop with just one chicken. About two weeks prior I set up a Grandpa's Feeder in my main coop. I'm two weeks into the Grandpa's training and some of my chickens won't go near that thing. Out of 9, five of them go running every time they hear the lid close. My single bird in her little coop was using the Ratproof Medium feeder on day 1. I followed the instructions, mounted it to the wall, put a patio paver under it and the treadle and let my bird see me put treats on top of the feed. She followed my hand and jumped up on the treadle. I do this with her several times a day, but she never gets scared away. Just two days in and I'm confident she is feeding herself. I just ordered two more for my main coop!
Some additional thoughts. The Grandpa's feeder is nicely manufactured for sure. It's kind of "idiot proof" but unfortunately the chickens don't have my appreciation for manufacturing, they just want to get their food. I know a lot of people have had success with the Grandpa's feeder and I'd probably succeed too, but seeing the girls getting nasty with each other because they were hungry, and watching them get skittish around the feeder left me feeling uncomfortable.
The Ratproof Chicken Feeder definitely has that "hand made" look to it. It was very well packed, nothing was damaged but I still tweaked it a bit. I had to play with the spring tension to get it to work for my small light chicken. I removed the soft close option because she is very light and I didn't think her weight would open the door with the springs adjusted tight enough to close it. I also extended the treadle step because my chicken wanted to get closer to the feed. I think my "regular" chickens will do fine without much fuss.
All in all, I like the Ratproof Feeder much better than the Grandpa's. The Grandpa's has too many pinch points and I don't want any of the birds to get hurt. The door swinging in just seems like a smarter way to do this. The training seems a lot easier too. I can't wait for the other two to arrive.
