Can geese use a treadle feeder?

[FurryHerbalist]

Does anyone have experience with treadle feeders for geese? I’ve been using the Grandpa’s brand treadle for my chickens for several years now and it eliminated rats in the coop. It was a great investment.

But I’m wondering if the geese will will learn to step on the treadle and have enough room to “shovel” the pellets (I’d obviously take out the interior grate).

Anyone have any other tricks to keep chipmunks out of the food?

The Brown Chinese goslings are currently 6 weeks old and out in the fenced yard all day until their permanent yard and house are finished (my contractor bailed at the last minute so I’m having to do it all myself).

 

[cavemanrich]

@Al Gerhart can you help out here??

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[FurryHerbalist]

I emailed Grandpa’s with my question and they said many people are using the feeders for turkeys, ducks and geese. Remove the flick screen and make a small modification as shown in the .pdf. I’m still a bit skeptical but I figure the feeder is still useful in the hen house since I’m growing the flock this year. I’ll update the thread after I the feeder is introduced to the geese.

 

[Al Gerhart]

The Grandpa Xi feeder has the wide and close in treadle step, not good if you wish to prevent vermin from piling up on the treadle and getting to the feed. This also doesn't leave enough room for a goose or turkey to use their breast to push down the treadle.

My feeder has an optional turkey step for this situation. Just a wide plywood step that screws to the existing treadle step. Even without the turkey step customers have reported in the reviews that their geese and turkeys do just fine using their breast to drop the treadle. The turkey step just makes it easier but it costs around $8.00 I think, not a big seller, no need for it most of the time. Just be warned you need to adjust the spring tension after you install a duck step or a turkey step

I am very skeptical that a piece of coreplast is going to last very long the way their PDF shows. It will bend quickly, is going to be slick as snot.

I believe the reason they do this is because the weight of a proper turkey step would overwhelm the balance of their design. The feeder has no way to increase the spring tension that holds the door shut so if you screwed a 12" wide chunk of plywood on the treadle it would just leave the door open all the time

On my feeder, the springs are easy to adjust to offset the added weight and there is plenty of adjustment in the door tension device. You would need a #1 square drive screwdriver bit to remove the top front cover to get to the spring adjustment and a couple of 7/16" wrenches or one wrench and one socket to adjust the springs

 

[FurryHerbalist]

The Grandpa Xi feeder has the wide and close in treadle step, not good if you wish to prevent vermin from piling up on the treadle and getting to the feed. This also doesn't leave enough room for a goose or turkey to use their breast to push down the treadle.

My feeder has an optional turkey step for this situation. Just a wide plywood step that screws to the existing treadle step. Even without the turkey step customers have reported in the reviews that their geese and turkeys do just fine using their breast to drop the treadle. The turkey step just makes it easier but it costs around $8.00 I think, not a big seller, no need for it most of the time. Just be warned you need to adjust the spring tension after you install a duck step or a turkey step

I am very skeptical that a piece of coreplast is going to last very long the way their PDF shows. It will bend quickly, is going to be slick as snot.

I believe the reason they do this is because the weight of a proper turkey step would overwhelm the balance of their design. The feeder has no way to increase the spring tension that holds the door shut so if you screwed a 12" wide chunk of plywood on the treadle it would just leave the door open all the time

On my feeder, the springs are easy to adjust to offset the added weight and there is plenty of adjustment in the door tension device. You would need a #1 square drive screwdriver bit to remove the top front cover to get to the spring adjustment and a couple of 7/16" wrenches or one wrench and one socket to adjust the springs

Some good thoughts, thanks!

Unfortunately I’ve already picked up another Grandpa’s from Tractor Supply so the experiment begins.

I too thought the plastic would be slick so had planned on adding anti-slip tape. I think if the corrugations are orientated perpendicular to the treadle and the board extends only 6” or so, bending should be minimal for the Chinese geese. They’re nowhere near 20+lb of turkeys.

If the geese do use the extended treadle and can get their heads in to “shovel”, I’ll replace the plastic with a piece of sheet metal.

I do know that some have found rats defeating the Grandpa treadle - incredibly smart little critters, aren’t they? - but so far have not had that problem. My feeder is in the coop though, not outside. Once I installed the feeder all the rats disappeared. My concern is raccoons or possums at night, so locking the feeder when the geese go into their coop will probably be the ticket. But then there’s our friendly neighborhood Black Bear….

I did look at your design though, Al. Definitely easier to keep clean than all the nooks and crannies on Grandpa’s. And I like that it can be repaired. I’m curious about the door though. Is it completely waterproof? It’s hard to tell from the soft close video.

Cheers,
Ms. B