Chickens hate my new feeders...

[Minky]

so, after watching my hens flick the organic feed everywhere, and then demand more (apparently they wont peck it off the floor!!) I googled DIY feeders and headed to home depot.

I made a feeder using 4 or 5 inch pvc pipe (cant recall) and cut big ovals out for their heads. First- I cut round holes with a 3 " hole bit, but then I realised my roo will never fit his head in there.... so I turned them into ovals, but they just wont use it!! I mean, its insane, they look at me in the morning as if they are starving- and the feeder is full- but if I sprinkle feed into a dish- they all freak out and gobble it up.

what is going on??
any ideas how to make them happy but stop the wasting of feed- the organic stuff is more than twice the cost!

 

[Folly's place]

I use the yellow plastic feeders from Premier1supplies.com, and have very little waste (billing out) from them. I'm not making do-it-yourself feeders, so can't help there.
Mary

 

[AmberKnits]

I have PVC pipe feeders, but I never cut any holes in them. The bottom piece is a “Y” shape with a cap on the bottom.

My chickens still scatter food, but it’s mostly if they don’t like what’s in there. I had a really hard time wearing them off Nutrena Feather Fixer onto a less expensive layer feed.

 

[1 acre willows]

I built mine from 4" PVC, a 4" rubber cap, and a 4"PVC wye. Mine sits vehicle with a cap pb the bottom and top to keep food in and let junk out. It stands total about 4 foot tall, will hold about 10 lbs of feed. Will post pictures if you want. Did the same with 2" PVC, one for grit and one for oyster shell, all gravity fed

 

[1 acre willows]

I have PVC pipe feeders, but I never cut any holes in them. The bottom piece is a “Y” shape with a cap on the bottom.

My chickens still scatter food, but it’s mostly if they don’t like what’s in there. I had a really hard time wearing them off Nutrena Feather Fixer onto a less expensive layer feed.

Mine are same style, I had to put a short piece of PVC to force them to put their heads down in the feeder so they'd quit scattering the feed out of there. Have you had that problem?

 

[Minky]

I built mine from 4" PVC, a 4" rubber cap, and a 4"PVC wye. Mine sits vehicle with a cap pb the bottom and top to keep food in and let junk out. It stands total about 4 foot tall, will hold about 10 lbs of feed. Will post pictures if you want. Did the same with 2" PVC, one for grit and one for oyster shell, all gravity fed

I'd love to see pics.

 

[Minky]

I use the yellow plastic feeders from Premier1supplies.com, and have very little waste (billing out) from them. I'm not making do-it-yourself feeders, so can't help there.
Mary

those feeders look great. I will have to find a Canadian equivalent, or shipping will be $1,000,000. LOL

 

[AmberKnits]

Mine are same style, I had to put a short piece of PVC to force them to put their heads down in the feeder so they'd quit scattering the feed out of there. Have you had that problem?

They can still scatter the feed if they don't like it, but for the most part there isn't much waste.

 

[1 acre willows]

I'd love to see pics.

I had to put short extensions on the openings to keep them from flicking feed out all over the floor and wasting it.

 

[1 acre willows]

I had to put short extensions on the openings to keep them from flicking feed out all over the floor and wasting it.

You can see one of the grit/ oyster shell feeders onthe far wall. Mounted it about 8" off the floor to keep the youngsters from getting into it as much