Good Morning Everyone, We recently bought a galvanised automatic treadle feeder for our ladies, it was advertised as keeping vermin out without having to remove food pots each evening.. At set up there are two different levels of tension on the treadle, one for bantams and one for large hens, we set it on bantams and found food all over the run the next morning so we adjusted it and set it on large hens and put our smallest bantam on the foot plate to see if she could open the door which she did. The problem we have is that unless we go in every evening and put a plank of wood under the treadle plate we find the food has all but been demolished the next morning, there will be a mountain of food all over the plate and surrounding floor. Does anyone have any ideas how we can stop this happening. We cannot get rid of the rats etc as our chickens are on an allotment surrounded by a wood and a stream so they will always be there. The whole reason we bought this treadle was because I see to the chickens every morning and have had to have an operation so we bought an automatic door closer/opener and this feeder as all I have to do is check for eggs and my husband and daughter see to them at night filling feed if necessary and replacing water for me and of course making sure the door has actually closed. Our only problem is this feeder. I would very much appreciate it if you had any ideas. Regards Karen
Tonyandkaren, Sounds like you need to ask for your money back, if the feeder was advertised as being rat-proof, and it turns out not to be! Or perhaps the manufacturer might have some ideas on how you can tweak the feeder to make it function as a better rat defense. What brand did you get? I think you folks over in GB have a greater variety of treadle feeders available than we do over here in the US.
