FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

[Audio51]

Thanks! My feed store does sell those, but they're too small for my twenty chickens. I wonder what that reel bar across the top is supposed to be for.

I think it's meant to keep them out of the feeder. On the one I bought it spins so they can't balance. It keeps them from roosting on it.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Thanks! My feed store does sell those, but they're too small for my twenty chickens. I wonder what that reel bar across the top is supposed to be for.

The bar is to keep the birds from standing in/on the feed (and pooping and scratching it out).

 

[azygous]

Well, that is ingenious! I will have to remember that if I get ambitious and try to build chicken proof feeding troughs.

What I do is place pieces of split oak firewood on either side of the plastic troughs I use. They're three inches deep and around eighteen inches long, but the chickens try to perch on the edge of the feeder and it would tip over if not for the firewood. As it is, they find perfect footing on the pieces of firewood, oak being very heavy, and they're happy to remain out of their food that way.

A friend picked up these feeders at a garage sale for 50 cents, and I think they were packaging in a previous rendition. They're about the size of plastic rain gutters.

 

[LindaB220]

Why not buy a 10' gutter at Home Depot for under $10 and cut it in half. The lid on a yogurt cup fits on the end. Two 5' feeders under $10. Learned this on BYC.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The bar is to keep the birds from standing in/on the feed (and pooping and scratching it out).

they're like things that flip squirrels off of feeders.

What I do is place pieces of split oak firewood on either side of the plastic troughs I use. They're three inches deep and around eighteen inches long, but the chickens try to perch on the edge of the feeder and it would tip over if not for the firewood. As it is, they find perfect footing on the pieces of firewood, oak being very heavy, and they're happy to remain out of their food that way.

good idea

 

[niqueie]

I had a 2" piece of PVC pipe around left over from my aquaponics garden so cut a third off the diameter and attached 2 elbow to the ends. It works great also. I attached it with some I bolts and it hangs from the rafters.

 

[Audio51]

I had a 2" piece of PVC pipe around left over from my aquaponics garden so cut a third off the diameter and attached 2 elbow to the ends. It works great also. I attached it with some I bolts and it hangs from the rafters.

I saw a post on FB yesterday that was meant for keeping climbing dogs from getting over fences but it would work great for keeping chickens off feeders too. It was a piece of PVC pipe threaded over a cable and aonther bigger PVC pipe slipped over that. If something tried to grab it (or perch on it) the outer pipe would spin over the inner pipe to they could not get traction or balance themselves.

 

[azygous]

Genius! Both ideas!

 

[MandalaMaMa]

Question -- I was just wondering do you scoop your FF right off the top or do you stir it first then scoop. It seems all the good stuff is on top and should be mixed in first. Was just wondering what everyone else does.

 

[Audio51]

Question -- I was just wondering do you scoop your FF right off the top or do you stir it first then scoop. It seems all the good stuff is on top and should be mixed in first. Was just wondering what everyone else does.

I always stir mine well before scooping...