Chickens Wasting food!!!

[ChickenClaire]

Yeah, I'm doing that right now but it gets spread too thin and we still end up wasting half of it...

 

[donrae]

Elevate the feeder to the level of their backs. They have to reach a little to eat, but it doesn't hurt them one bit and makes them way less picky.

Keep in mind chickens don't mind eating off the ground at all. It's the humans who think they need to eat out of a feeder. If I notice an abundance of feed on the ground, the feeder just doesn't get filled that day. They spend the day scratching around and cleaning up all that feed under the feeder. Trust me, they're not starving at all and personally I think it gives them something to do. In nature, they'd be spending the majority of their day looking for food, this just gives them the chance to do that in the coop.

 

[Menmyrc]

Please post a pic of the 5 gallon bucket with catch platter underneath...mine doing same thing...
Thanks...!

I've asked my kids to take a pic and text it to me - so far they haven't. I'll go out and take a pic this afternoon and post it. I'll also get a pic of our 5-gallon bucket watering system with auto-fill!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Elevating the feeder so the tray is as high as the shortest chicken's back helps. I like to do that. The other thing you can do to keep them from spilling food by sweeping it out with their beak is try a different style of feeder. The ones with the spokes in the tray are good for that. My Pet Chicken has those for sale, if you want to see a picture of those. We bought ours at a farm store. Feeders where they eat from a hole also prevent that.

 

[jeffmaggie]

This is something that I came up about a month ago to solve my anxiety regarding the epic waste of feed that is "normal" for chicken feeding. I was going through a large feeder every other day. Most of it ended up in the dirt, and the chickens didn't seem too eager to eat it. Rather, they'd act all hungry and trick me into filling the feeder.
So after months of seeing all this waste money fall on the floor and morph into dirt, I came up with this idea of a gravity feeder system. It's not only efficient because everything gets sent back up top, but it's incredibly clean too. Not a spec of feed on the floor. EVERYTHING goes into the collection receptacle.
It works via gravity. Place the source on top of a wire mesh screen floor, that sits over a funnel, which sits over a collection container.
I'm not trying to sell anything and I don't have any plans, just done from my head, but you will get the idea and be able to make your own. Please check out the link to several of my chicken videos on this topic. Thanks, Jeff
I've made 4 video variations so far.
DIY Zero Waste Bulk Gravity Chicken Feeder/Waterer Saves Money $$$

DIY "No-Waste" Gravity Chicken Feeder - SAVES $$$ MONEY

DIY ZERO-WASTE GRAVITY CHICKEN FEEDER!!!

DIY Bulk Gravity Chicken Feeder Recycles All Food - Zero Waste!!!

 

[Mrs. K]

wow, I was impressed

 

[3KillerBs]

My chicks keep dumping the feeder that's on blocks in their coop. As soon as I stand it back up they go straight for the pile on the floor and scratch the shavings down to bare plywood eating it all.

DH is almost finished with the run and then I'll be able to hang it instead of having it up on blocks. No more overturned feeder.

I can't see why, if the ground isn't muddy or wet, that the chickens wouldn't eat the spilled food if you left them with nothing else for a reasonable period of time. Even my 5-week-old chicks have proven capable of picking food off the ground when out of the coop.

 

[heybarb]

Keep in mind chickens don't mind eating off the ground at all. It's the humans who think they need to eat out of a feeder. If I notice an abundance of feed on the ground, the feeder just doesn't get filled that day. They spend the day scratching around and cleaning up all that feed under the feeder. Trust me, they're not starving at all and personally I think it gives them something to do. In nature, they'd be spending the majority of their day looking for food, this just gives them the chance to do that in the coop.

This what I do too! If there is a ton of food on the ground, I just remove the feeder and they scratch around looking for food.