Are my girls faulty ? 😁😁

[Leroy77]

I've brought a treadle feeder in to feed the girls as I was spending more money feeding the wild birds than my own chickens.
But dear lord they can't wrap their heads around it.
I followed the instructions and and left the lid open for a week, then made it slightly more closed and now we are just open a crack.
Now that it's on the smallest opening they just shove their head in standing from the side. They refuse to stand on the peddle as when the lid lifts they freak and step away.
The video I watched made it look so easy.
Do I just have faulty birds?
Any advice?
Please see attached photos.
I want to add my video but it won't accept the MP4 file format

 

[sourland]

Leave it more open, but block the sides so that they have to step on the treadle to eat. Chickens hate change and are slow to adapt to new situations.

 

[Leroy77]

Leave it more open, but block the sides so that they have to step on the treadle to eat. Chickens hate change and are slow to adapt to new situations.

Will a chicken starve it self trying to find food elsewhere around the yard (in the ground) than deal with the different? I'm not feeding them elsewhere but they are free range.
Will follow your suggestion. Just worried that when challenged with the task they will just give up and not try.

 

[sourland]

I would leave the feeder open until they become comfortable eating from it. I would then gradually close it over a period of time. No chicken was ever barnyard valedictorian.

 

[NatJ]

I followed the instructions and and left the lid open for a week, then made it slightly more closed and now we are just open a crack.
Now that it's on the smallest opening they just shove their head in standing from the side. They refuse to stand on the peddle as when the lid lifts they freak and step away.

Were they standing on the pedal when it was open a larger amount?

 

[Leroy77]

I would leave the feeder open until they become comfortable eating from it. I would then gradually close it over a period of time. No chicken was ever barnyard valedictorian.

I've done this already over a two week period. Slowly closing it a bit more till we have this. They would touch the plate when it was low to the ground but now it's full size to open they can't deal.

 

[Leroy77]

Were they standing on the pedal when it was open a larger amount?

Yes

 

[NatJ]

I've done this already over a two week period. Slowly closing it a bit more till we have this. They would touch the plate when it was low to the ground but now it's full size to open they can't deal.

Maybe go back to the point that they were comfortable standing on the plate, block the sides so they have to approach from the front, and give them a few more days to become comfortable that way again. Then work on closing it further, but in ridiculously tiny increments every day or two.

There may be some point that seems very different to them for some reason that isn't obvious to a person-- it might have to do with their eye level, or the way light reflects and shadows move, or something similar. Or maybe they each walked confidently up and got smacked on the chin by the lid, the first day it was moving from below beak level instead of above beak level. Not being a chicken, I don't know for sure what things would actually bother them, but you might try to consider such details if going slowly through the process again doesn't work.

 

[Leroy77]

Maybe go back to the point that they were comfortable standing on the plate, block the sides so they have to approach from the front, and give them a few more days to become comfortable that way again. Then work on closing it further, but in ridiculously tiny increments every day or two.

There may be some point that seems very different to them for some reason that isn't obvious to a person-- it might have to do with their eye level, or the way light reflects and shadows move, or something similar. Or maybe they each walked confidently up and got smacked on the chin by the lid, the first day it was moving from below beak level instead of above beak level. Not being a chicken, I don't know for sure what things would actually bother them, but you might try to consider such details if going slowly through the process again doesn't work.

Yes sounds fair. Will start again. Thanks for your help