feeder frustration. We need better feeders.

[furbabymum]

http://images.ask.com/fr?q=gravity+...ge%3D1%26o%3D1251%26l%3Ddis%26pstart%3D0&qt=0

Huge link for some reason. lol

Anyway the 3rd one down is what I was referencing. It has a cover.

 

[PDXcluck]

I have been keeping my brain well exercised by ruminating on the same issue. We just put our 8-9 week old chicks out last week. I know we have rats around the back yard. We have no food source out for them, but these are roof rats so they primarily feed on 'native' fruit and nuts. One of our big backyard trees (which I would never get rid of) puts out some apparently tasty nuts/seeds for a few months in the spring and rats have taken a fancy to it as a food source, not to mention the neighbors 3 apple trees that don't get picked, and the fruits that fall don't get picked up. All that to say, I CANNOT possibly remove the food source for these rats.

I have been out at night for at least 30 minutes each night watching for rats. And each morning I walk around the coop and check the roof and the gravel on the ground for signs of digging and for rat scat. I know that it isn't a big infestation as I only see one every 2 or 3 nights, I have only seen more than 1 on one occasion, and there is almost no poop and no sign of gnawing/scratching around my property. I do have a hedge in back that provides good cover for them that will be removed as soon as I can afford a fence in it's place (probably this summer). But other than that my choices for control are limited to trapping and poison. To be clear, these rats were in the area at least 6 months prior to us getting chickens, so the chickens are not what is drawing them in, though I know it is only going to make the area more enticing to future rodents.

I am trying to decide if I will go so far as to try trapping and/or poison if the 'problem' stays as it is, which isn't much of a problem now.

BUT once the chickens presence is well-established in my backyard, and they are eating more and creating more 'pleasant smells' in the mind of a rat, will the rats just give up on the chickens/chicken feed when they realize they can't access it, or will they chew through 3/4" plywood to get a taste?

If I leave a feeder in the hen house that the rats cannot access will it still make the rats more likely to 'hang around' the coop looking for a way in because of the smell?

Will taking the feeder out at night really make a difference, since the hens will certainly have 'billed out' much of the food so the smell will still be there?

Taking all of that into consideration, my primary consideration is to limit any food on the ground in the run. The options I am considering follow:
- By making them go into the hen house for all their food
- By ration feeding only (theoretically there would be no food left at the end of the day)
- By removing the feeder from the hen house during the day, throwing down a little food/scratch in the run for daytime fun - and since there will be no food in the hen house during the day, I assume all that I throw down in the run will be eaten - and then putting the feeder back into the house at night.

Alternatively, I thought of having a feeder out in the run during the day, but it would have to be a feeder of the type that the OP is looking for. Something that would prevent billing out of food (because I don't want any on the ground the run) and it would have to be able to seal up well at night...to keep out mice (1/2" hardware cloth, mice can theoretically get in) and to limit food smell.

I will be keeping an eye on this thread...thanks to the OP for starting it!

 

[joan1708]

I'm going to look into the rabbit feeders, Thanks. I'm also considering a a "dish like" feeder and cover it with another dish and a brick on that at night. I can hang it up higher, and that may help some, but my coop/run is short. There is hardware cloth under a suntuf roof. I think it would be possible for a mouse to crawl under the roof on the hardware cloth and then drop down onto the feed. I'm always on the look-out for mouse or rat poop and I haven't seen any yet, but I don't want to take chances.

 

[BigRedNZ]

Look up a chookateria. Great feeds, these are made in NZ but I'm
Sure there will be something local wherever you are

 

[jmagill]

I use one of these. I have a tray on a log below it. This is the first year I have had no problem with vermin and no waste of feed. The container hangs and can be anything from a bucket to a plastic pipe. I use a planter tray and have nailed it to a log but it could be nailed to anything. They peck at the lever, food drops into the tray, they eat it. Nothing left for vermin. Nothing on the ground, Nothing in the bedding. Best few dollars I ever spent.

I use a bucket with a lid on it.

 

[speedy2020]

Ok, one of the most valid arguments against chickens in the city, is they attract mice/rats. A better feeder would take the starch out of that argument. I am trying to keep rats/mice and ants out of my chicken feed and coop. I haven't seen a feeder yet that is adequate for city chickens. I need a feeder that hangs off the ground so the ants can't get in it. Treadle feeders sit on the ground, that won't work in fire ant country. The feeder needs to have a lid or some way to close it up at night that is non rodent chewable. It needs a lip so the chickens can't throw the food out. It needs a lid on the top that the chickens can't perch on it. Currently I put my feeder in a metal trash can at night to prevent rodents, but that's a pain in the neck. It would be nice just to flip a lid down over the opening. Open top hanging feeders are just ridiculous. I tried one of the "trigger" feeders that hang from the bottom of a container and the chicken hits the trigger and a little food falls out. The problem with this is there is too much food left on the ground.

I have made my coop/run as rodent resistant as I know how with hardware cloth and "tight" doors, but I still don't want a feeder hanging there like a neon light to rats/mice at night.

Anyone have a feeder that "cuts the mustard"?

You can attach treader feeder off ground. I did attach my about 20-24" to the coop above ground.

 

[annamcc314]

What about a feeder like this?

 

[alerievay]

There seem to be some good options from the UK and NZ, the Solway feeders and the Nosloc, but shipping is pretty prohibitively expensive to the U.S. I am probably getting a couple of the Solway nozzles to put on hanging buckets, but shipping is about $20 for less than $10 in merchandise. The Nosloc was about $40-50 shipped for one nozzle.

ETA: Looks like you've already tried that kind of feeder and had little success with it.

 

[joan1708]

thanks for all the replies.
furbabymom:The rabbit feeder with the lid is a viable option. However it may be vulnerable to ants. I don't see that I could rasie a trendle feeder very far off the ground with silkies, and it would still have to have a solid base for the chickens to use it. I was looking at the squirrel proof wild bird feeders. The type that closes when a squirrel steps on it and was thinking I could get a bungee cord to keep it open in the day and closed at night. But it's $90.00 and I think a little cumbersome for my chickens.
Annamecc314 - I saw the trendle feeder which is nice but I really liked the waterer in that video!
jmagill: I have one of those trigger feeders. The issue I had with that was, I have 8-10 inches of litter in my run that the chickens are always tossing around. I couldn't keep the pan under the trigger cleaned out enough to see if they were really using it and they seemed to scatter the food everywhere.
This is what I have come up with. I have a piece of a wild bird feeder that I have hanging with string. (see below)

I only have 3 silkies, so I don't need a big feeder. A small feeder helps me keep track of how much they are eating.
I'm going to try putting a clay saucer pan over it at night to keep vermin out (See below)

This is definitely low tech. I'm hoping it works. It will take a couple months to know for sure. I will keep you posted.

I

 

[canesisters]

Have you seen the feeders made from PVC pipes? There are many threads and pictures around BYC. What if you used galvanized pipe? You could maybe hook up some sort of open/closed valve down near the bottom - and if the end where the actual feeder is was threaded, you could close the valve, unscrew the feeder, dump any unused feed back into the top and be ready to open it up the next morning. If you also connected your pipe to a larger galvanized trash can, you would have a large volume - rodent proof - (almost) automatic feeder.

Just an idea