Chickens scraping food out of feeder

[kayte]

We made the large wooden feeder seen on this web site. Within an hour they had pulled all 50 lbs out onto the ground. We've tried making it smaller but they still scratch it out or one time they went several days without being able to do more than peck at it but no eat the food.

Are there some dimensions for depth and width that would solve this problem?

Kayte

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

I simpley made feeders out of 1"x4" inch 3ft long feeders and only put what they eat for one day in it
It had a 1"x2" long rod nailed to it and turned then when they got into the feeder
I really never ever had chickens pull out the crumbles

what kind of chicken feed do you feed them

are you giving them 2 tbsp of ACV to gallon of water?
this may help them digest the feed


The 50 Lb thing is way too much feed as chickens always keep pecking and pulling it out

Was it crumbles or pellets?

try only feeding 1 gallon of feed for 4 hrs and see what they do with less feed
a normal large fowl at maturity eats 1/4 lb of feed a day

are you feeding scratch?
are you feeding cracked corn?

if so till they learn to eat the crumbles you will need to not feed them any thing else

as they are not humgrey is why they are billing the feed out

email me for any questions

 

[kayte]

They get pellets. We have 31 chickens. So they eat 50 lbs in about 4 or 5 days.

I guess they are glutens.

We have been feeding them about half a days worth now since they pull it out on the ground.

No we don't give them vinegar. Our waterer is a bucket with the toilet mechanism to keep it full. I guess I could put some in there.

They never did this with the commercial metal hanging container. Maybe because it's round.

They do get scratch grain that we throw out onto the ground.

 

[falloonfarm]

My chickens will do the same thing, so I cut an old tomato cage that had small mesh (1 x 2 inch squares). It has really cut down on the amount they scrape onto the ground and they can get their heads in to eat just fine.