All Things Treadle Feeder

[BonnieBlue]

You found the site ending in .net, correct? It has the videos on repair, installation, training, and tons of customer supplied videos. you basically slide a washer on one of the bolts, stick it through the side of the feeder coming from the inside pointing out, add the second washer, then the hex nut and tighten the stuffing out of it. Repeat for the other side. Hang the treadle bar making sure the small hole in the side of the treadle bar is on the right side under the door axle crank. Add the lock nut, tighten it down snug with a wrench, then back off 1/10th to 1/8th of a turn so the treadle rotates freely. Hook the wire link, the shorter end if there is one, in the door axle and bend it over 180 degrees. Push the wire link from the center of the feeder outward. That keeps the wire link on the inside of the treadle and door axle crank. It needs to be free to rotate without flexing the wire or it will break under metal fatigue. Insert the bottom end through the treadle hole and bend it up 180 degrees, into a U shape. Again, not tight, let it rotate easily. You are done.

Installation, there is a french cleat made out of sheet metal in a kind of z shape. Set some patio blocks up where you want to mount the feeder, two or three work great, lots of landing room in front of the treadle step so the birds can hop up and then work the treadle. Push the feeder against the wall or post and run a pencil mark along the top of the feeder. Remove the feeder and mount that french cleat around 1/4" below that pencil line. Holes should be pre punched but make your own if needed. Then hang the feeder over that cleat, the wire lid axle hooks in behind the top of the cleat. You can lift the feeder off for cleaning or if a squirrel commits suicide trying to get into the feeder.

No wall or post? Set the pavers and set the feeder, then set one heavy paver on top to prevent the feeder from tipping when it gets close to empty and a heavy rooster jumps on the treadle. Or, drive some 2 x 4 stakes into the ground, mount a 16" x 24" chunk of plywood to the stakes, cut a 2 x 4 block that slips under the feeder, screw the wood block to the plywood, run some screws through the sides of the bottom of the feeder to secure the feeder to the wood block. Or just drive the stakes into the ground and screw the feeder to the stakes.

Feeder to birds..... how many days do you want to be gone without running out of feed? Balance that with the morning traffic jam at the feeder which the hens will work out based on their pecking order. Figure 120 days of feed for one hen per medium feeder. Ten hens, empty in twelve days. Fifteen hens, more like eight days. Once you are over say 16 hens you should have two feeders, out of the line of sight of each other if possible to help to reduce competition if you have a bully hen. You probably can get by with one feeder for twenty hens if you are on a budget, so six days before empty. You can always add one later.

Thank you for all of the info.

At present, I have 8 hens, but hope to slowly increase it to 15, adding a few over a couple of years to being in new as the two older age out. I do have one bully hen, so I wondered of I should get two medium or one large that has more horizontal space. I am currently using two 4-port feeders spaced out to help with her bullying.

 

[Al Gerhart]

No problem, always glad to answer questions to make sure the product is a good fit for a customer.

If I were you, I would go with one medium. The Large feeder is no longer made because we re designed the Medium feeder so that it held nearly as much as the Large feeder. The Large feeder sold well, sold out quickly, but the newer Medium design had so many improvements. We do have the extra large, 16" wide, holds 63 pounds of feed. But you can buy two Medium feeders for the same price and have 20" of feeder opening over the roughly 14" for the extra large.

You will do fine with one feeder for your chickens. They spend so little time actually eating at a feeder during the day. If the bullying continues you can add one later. They will eat much more quickly from not having to stick their heads into port, feel safer eating, might set up a partition to block the view of the feeder from most of the coop so the bully hen forgets about it.

 

[BonnieBlue]

Good information. Thanks!

I will definitely be ordering. An accident when I was a teen is catching up with my back, and as much as wanting one for run hygiene and the chickens, not carrying food buckets in and out each day will be a huge benefit for me! Currently I lock them up in a galvanized trash can at night, so that eases up my chores!

 

[BonnieBlue]

For @Al Gerhart

First of all, thank you for the incredibly fast shipping.

I have a problem that I am trying to resolve before I set the feeder up.

The door does not close all the way. There is an ~3/8 gap, and it also makes it easier to push it open. I tried shortening the wire that moves the treadle arm up and down, but there is still a gap, and the treadle is not at a square perpendicular angle to the feeder now, it is fairly high, and I still have to push up on it to get the door to close, same as I did before I shortened the wire. Adjusting the screw for tension on the top does nothing. Please advise.

Edit to add: the only way to get it to close completely is to remove then tension screw. To say it is far from soft close if I do that is an understatement.

 

[Al Gerhart]

The gap will not be 3/8", send me a picture if it is but I can assure you it is not. Gaps will be between 3/16" and 1/4", put there on purpose for two reasons. First, the door drops as it rotates back, if the door is tight it will snag on the bottom. Second reason, as the sheet metal wears under the door axle the door does drop.

Next, the wire link that operates the door has nothing to do with door gap or closing unless you have the feeder set against a wall and the ground slopes up as it goes away from the wall. Why would you mess with it before following the instructions in the printed instructions that say to send me an email with pictures if you have problems? Now, if you changed the wire link length and the treadle bar is too high, you need to put it back where it was.

Treadle bars are never perpendicular. The treadle is supported on ONE side, it would be impossible for the treadle to remain level with support on one side. There is no need for the treadle to remain level. When they are leaning too much it is always an issue with, once again, instructions not being followed, the side bolts were not installed correctly, that allows more flex in the treadle bar.

Adjusting the screw pressure on the soft close only adjust the closing speed, not the spring tension. Once again, you didn't follow the instructions and send an email with pictures so it is very difficult to diagnose the problem. I don't even know if you are talking about the soft close screw adjustment or the spring adjustment that closes the door.

If a door is not closing the spring tension needs adjusting, especially if it is a soft close feeder. Not messing with the wire link. Two screws in the top front of the feeder are removed then it is very simple to tighten the spring tension.

Now, please send an email with pictures. If you think the gap is more than 1/4", lay a tape measure in the gap and snap a picture. Doors can be adjusted downward too but the gap MUST be left in place for the door axle rotation to prevent snagging. Make some of the pictures from enough distance that I can see how the feeder is installed to the coop too just in case. And when you train, follow the instructions. We have sold over 20,000 of these feeders and the instructions are set to allow success but only if people read the instructions and follow the instructions.

 

[BonnieBlue]

The gap will not be 3/8", send me a picture if it is but I can assure you it is not. Gaps will be between 3/16" and 1/4", put there on purpose for two reasons. First, the door drops as it rotates back, if the door is tight it will snag on the bottom. Second reason, as the sheet metal wears under the door axle the door does drop.

Next, the wire link that operates the door has nothing to do with door gap or closing unless you have the feeder set against a wall and the ground slopes up as it goes away from the wall. Why would you mess with it before following the instructions in the printed instructions that say to send me an email with pictures if you have problems? Now, if you changed the wire link length and the treadle bar is too high, you need to put it back where it was.

Treadle bars are never perpendicular. The treadle is supported on ONE side, it would be impossible for the treadle to remain level with support on one side. There is no need for the treadle to remain level. When they are leaning too much it is always an issue with, once again, instructions not being followed, the side bolts were not installed correctly, that allows more flex in the treadle bar.

Adjusting the screw pressure on the soft close only adjust the closing speed, not the spring tension. Once again, you didn't follow the instructions and send an email with pictures so it is very difficult to diagnose the problem. I don't even know if you are talking about the soft close screw adjustment or the spring adjustment that closes the door.

If a door is not closing the spring tension needs adjusting, especially if it is a soft close feeder. Not messing with the wire link. Two screws in the top front of the feeder are removed then it is very simple to tighten the spring tension.

Now, please send an email with pictures. If you think the gap is more than 1/4", lay a tape measure in the gap and snap a picture. Doors can be adjusted downward too but the gap MUST be left in place for the door axle rotation to prevent snagging. Make some of the pictures from enough distance that I can see how the feeder is installed to the coop too just in case. And when you train, follow the instructions. We have sold over 20,000 of these feeders and the instructions are set to allow success but only if people read the instructions and follow the instructions.

I did read the instructions, and I did unkink the wire to "unshorten it". I will take pics. If you would like a pic of the huge gash in the shipping box, I will send that. I thought maybe it was handled too roughly, not defective, and generally I can trouble shoot things.I have not yet set it up, as I was waiting to make sure It was correct before I do so this evening after they are in the coop. As the instructions say.

Don't worry, the instructions will be followed for training, as I have already thought about how/when to set it up.

 

[Al Gerhart]

If you had read the instructions you would have read the part telling you to email with pictures so I could understand what the issue was. Since you didn't, most would understand that you didn't read the instructions.

The "gap" is nothing more than the spring tension needing adjusted or the soft close cylinder screw backed off. Without full size pictures I can't tell. Please email a set of pictures including how you have it installed so I can explain things better.

The box gash, once the box is dropped off it is out of my hands. They do treat the boxes roughly which is why we use a full wooden cage around the feeder.

Thank you

 

[RoyalChick]

I just want to weigh in and disagree with @Al Gerhart on the number of feeders.
Once you are comfortable with how it all works, get two.
Yes, one holds enough feed and they can take turns, but life is more peaceful with two.
I find the absolute maximum who will feed at the exact same time is 3 of my smaller birds. And when they are chowing down it makes the bigger birds go ‘oh that is a good idea’ and they muscle in and monopolize the feeder.
Eventually everyone gets to feed, but there is much less bickering if there is a second feeder!

And a quick word on training, once a couple of them get it they teach the others and subsequent additions to the flock (just like with water nipples).

 

[Al Gerhart]

Royalchick is completely correct on this.

I design, build, and install trophy kitchens but even there I try to squeeze out every penny in cost to get the customer the biggest bang for the buck. When I grew up, money was scarce, so I learned to respect it above so much.

My thinking is to get a customer started and then add feeders if needed but Royalchick's advice is very correct. Even better if one feeder is out of sight of the other.

I stand corrected Royalchick.

 

[NotForTheEggs]

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.