dust bathing in food

[angelobutter]

there is one dang chick that INSISTS on pushing all the food out of the feeder and taking a very wasteful dust bath! i cant make her stop and she is wasting all the food!!

any suggestions? she literally pushes out the food then shimmy shakes it off the floor until it has all fallen through to the wired floor part of the cage... i feel like we are wasting about half the food I put in there.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

I'm no expert (just started out), but...how about offering her something else to dust bathe in? Like wood ash or sand? Maybe if you put a shallow dish in there of another dust bathing material, she'll leave the food alone except to EAT it lol...good luck!

 

[Bill 101]

suggestions

1 - Go to the feed store & buy a Chick Feeder. they will have round ones made either of plastic or metal. Those will have a lid that snaps on/off with holes in it so chicks can get feed through the holes, but won't be able to climb in.
They also will have rectangular metal/plastic ones that have a bar across the center. the bar rotates which keeps them from perching on them
2 - go to the hardware store & get some 1/2 x 1/2 hardware cloth, cut it to a size just smaller than you feeder & lay it on top. The birds can still climb on to it, but the wire will prevent them from scratching out food. They have access to the food through the 1/2" holes.

You best bet (permanent) solution is to get a chick feeder

 

[angelobutter]

they have a feeder- she scoops it out.

 

[Bill 101]

You kidding me !!! It gets inside that? Or do you mean it is "beaking it out"
OK, go get that hardware cloth/screen I talked about & cut it just smaller than the base, set it on top of the feed & put the top on or screw the jar on --- or however it goes together

 

[angelobutter]

You kidding me !!! It gets inside that? Or do you mean it is "beaking it out"
OK, go get that hardware cloth/screen I talked about & cut it just smaller than the base, set it on top of the feed & put the top on or screw the jar on --- or however it goes together

thanks will do. and yes she scoops it out of there lol