Birds stealing my chicken feed!

[blake101]

I have just recently started see wild birds stealing my girls chicken feed, they will fly in the coop and my girls do nothing about it. The only time they fly away is when I come out the door. Do any of you have this problem if so what do you do about it? Don't really won't to feed the whole neighbor hood.

 

[WhoopiePie]

for me it was actually a squirrel that got into my feeder! i was wondering how the chickens spilled so much feed from a PVC feeder (the reason my brother built it was to prevent spillage) and i realized the squirrel was digging around in there for sunflower seeds. i stopped mixing the BOSS with the feed and started throwing it on the ground for them in the evening with their corn. that's when the wild birds come around for the leftover corn.... my chickens like to chase them though

idk, maybe a pop door at the entrance would help but then you'd have to open it up in the evening for your chickens to go back in at night and you'd also have to make sure you have a water source on the outside of the coop while the chickens are out.

 

[Country Parson]

I keep all my feeders in the coop house itself, which usually deters birds. I will occasionally find a bird inside the coop house, but it has drastically cut down on wasted feed. I've heard people say that if you free range (which I do) then you should have feed stations outdoors as well as indoors. I've found this unnecessary. The hens go in and out of the coop house as they wish.

 

[bills]

I had a neighbor that had a raven actually go into the coop, and steal an egg. Your not so bad off..lol.

I had a flock of California quail land in the run one time. There just have been 10-12 of them. There was no feeder in the run, so I guess they were just curious. The hens really looked shocked, especiallly when they all flew off in one bunch..

They must be pretty hungry to be risking getting trapped in the coop, or perhaps attacked by an irate hen..

 

[Judy]

Quote:
X2, except I've never seen a bird in there, and there are plenty around, including hawks and crows.

 

[Smoky73]

start feeding them inside. I have a friend who feeds outside and she has the same problems. Plus, by feeding outside and having wild birds in your run getting into the feed, your increasing your risk of getting lice and mites from the wild ones to your own.

 

[mulewagon]

I just saw a couple of birds in my pen this morning, sneaking over towards the feed...then a hen spotted them and ran them off!

 

[HEChicken]

When I used crumbles I had a huge issue with grackles stealing the food. I switched to pellets and the problem went away. The pellets were too big for them to eat.

 

[blake101]

Quote:
I have been using pellets, but they continue to steal the food...

 

[thedeacon]

Some swear by a fake Owl just hanging around.