Feeder suggestions

[Fcarter]

Lately, my chickens have been wasting a lot of food. Instead of eating from the feeders with minimal scratching as they have always done they now scratch most all of the feed out on the ground. I know their nature is to scratch when eating but this behavior is new and costly. Besides, the feed waste is a magnet for unwanted visitors. Any suggestions for different type feeders? The attached pic is what I have always used. Thanks.

 

[3KillerBs]

You might find this thread helpful. https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/24182039

I LOVE my traditional, metal hanging feeder for the reasons I explained there.

 

[WhySayWhat]

I have a cross beak that was spending all day, every day, scooping food out of my bucket feeders. I started feeding a big dog bowl of wet feed every day and now she spends her days doing something other than wasting feed. Photo is of the feeder we are currently not using (I made 3 of them and then only hung 2), it's just a 5 gallon bucket and then I bought feeder adapters from Rent-A-Coop on Amazon. They are supposed to reduce waste, but our problem was a chicken that has trouble eating. By giving her wet feed (and the rest of them because they don't like it when I give her special attention since she's the lowest ranked chicken), it helped her get the nutrients she needs.

I really love the bucket feeders and use the same setup with water nipples and cups (for the scissor beak) as well. Keeps everything off the ground for the most part! Another thing to consider is that it could be another critter making a mess of the feed. When I had the feed near a branch in my old run, I had an issue with mice getting into the feeders and stealing all the feed and making a general mess of everything. I found I need to be absolutely sure nothing but the chickens can reach the feed to keep the mess down.

 

[Alaskan]

Lately, my chickens have been wasting a lot of food. Instead of eating from the feeders with minimal scratching as they have always done they now scratch most all of the feed out on the ground. I know their nature is to scratch when eating but this behavior is new and costly. Besides, the feed waste is a magnet for unwanted visitors. Any suggestions for different type feeders? The attached pic is what I have always used. Thanks.

You might just need to raise the feeder.

If the feeder is at back height, there tends to be less waste.

 

[backyardfeedco]

Make sure to hang your feeder so that it’s level with your hens’ back.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Feeders, you either pay for a good one or you pay even more with waste, vermin stealing feed, or disease brought into your flock. Some folks have chickens for years with no problem with the metal hanging feeders or even the plastic feeders though. Some make a hobby out of trying to outsmart the rodents so I don't think you could sell them a proper feeder if you tried.

Dig around online, there is a website that reviews chicken feeders and it has covered a lot of the popular ones of all types. Might give you some ideas.

 

[Folly's place]

I use the yellow plastic feeders from Premier1supplies.com, and like them hanging best. Their deeper troughs make for less billing out, very helpful.

I haven't used those home made tube feeders, because I'm concerned that it will be harder for every bird to be able to eat as needed, having much less access to feed. Here we have 35 to 50 birds, and four or five feeders like this scattered around in separate areas of the coop.
Mary

 

[630004]

I tried a few plastic ones and ended up going with a 40 lb metal hanging feeder (https://www.agrisupply.com/hanging-...BING&msclkid=b394bbabfbd3151f3956da24e5870f68)

works great and doesn’t require frequent filling.

 

[Suzz]

I have the same feeder but i put it on a little step stool works well minimum waste

 

[saysfaa]

I use a stainless steel dog dish. I added an ice cream bucket filled with pebbles to set it in to stop them from upending it by standing on the edge. It also raises it. They never dish food out of it. All five eat together quite often but they also often individually take a bite or two in passing. The only downside I have noticed is they kick bedding (leaves and pine shavings) into it; I thought that would keep they from eating as much but have noticed they will eat around and under the bedding to empty the bowl.