Grandpa's Feeder~~do you like yours?

[Wise Woman]

I saved up for a year to get two of these feeders for my girls. We have been using them for almost a year now. The girls had no problem figuring out how to use them, however, I am not so sure I like them.

The chickens sit on top of them so there is always poo on the lid. They get poo on the treadle as well. There is always food spilled underneath them and they make a heck of a banging noise every single time a chicken steps on the treadle. I had to put them on pavers to keep them level. They also do not keep the food dry as I found out when my contractor over sprays his work area with the hose and gets water into the run.

I had high hopes for these feeders and they were very expensive. Now I am having second thoughts about them but feel stuck keeping them because of the price. I have to clean the treadles and the lids every single week as well as move them and clean under them. I am thinking of just going back to the old fashioned hanging feeders because at least I didn't have to clean poo off of them.

What are you thoughts on these feeders?

 

[WhiteWyan]

Can you post a picture of the feeders
Edit I think I know the ones you are talking about.
It's the type with the step that opens the lid right?
You should return them and get your $ back.
I honestly just use the hog pans from TSC. They cost $3-$5 each and I just put a little scoop of food in there, they eat it in a day or two.
I use kiddie pools for water
I have the hanging style feeder and waters in the run but in the fenced in yard they have the open style hog pans.

Food barely gets dirty. Water stays clear and clean until day 3 or 4.

 

[Wise Woman]

Here you go. I have used just big feed pans in the past or just one of those metal hanging feeders, but I am trying to make sure we don't attract mice or rats because since we built the new coop/run, their food is in the run instead of the coop. It is nice not having to fill the feeder and water every single day. I have this style of waterer so I can put one of those heaters under it come winter.

 

[WhiteWyan]

It's always tricky to find the system that works for you. I have always wondered about the treadle feeders but the cost kept me away.
I have a feeling you could modify it to make it suit your needs better.
For example if you want to keep them from standing on top, maybe put a dome lid on top? Or to keep mice away, try adding hot pepper flakes or cayenne to the feed as well?
To stop it from getting wet, maybe keep the whole setup under shelter so the rain won't get in?

I hope they work out for you, they look really nice.

 

[Wise Woman]

Thanks for your suggestions. The feeders are in a covered run but the contractor who is building a bathroom for us is hose happy. Sprays everything down when he is done and water flies into the run hence the panels you see attached the walls. He will be gone soon luckily. We don't have mice per say, but living in a forest, they are never far away. Plus our neighbor has piles of junk in his back yard and piled against our shared wall, so I am sure he has critters living in all his junk. We also have chipmunks, squirrels and ground squirrels which are constantly trying to get into our food. They can't get through the hardware cloth, but I am always afraid mice can.

I am not sure how I would put a domed lid on these feeders. Our coop is close to our house so all day long you hear bang, bang, bang. I can't put these directly on the ground as they need to be level to work and the chickens kept digging around them causing them to constantly go off balance and I was forever filling holes and leveling and they were flinging dirt into them (hence the rocks) so I put them on the cement pavers. Maybe I should just go back to the basic hanging feeders with a domed lid and call it a day.

 

[WhiteWyan]

Yikes about the neighbors mess. I hope someone comes along who uses these feeders that might have better advice than I had!

 

[Wise Woman]

Thank you.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

I use Grandpa’s Feeders in my covered run for the big birds and for the moment, in the coop, for the month-old chicks. The Bigs don’t perch on the feeder at all because they have plenty of roost space in the run between the stumps, roost bars, 6”x6” scraps from building the deck, and a stand-alone roost under the covered part of the run. The Littles, on the other hand, loooooove to perch on the open feeder! (I have the feeder set to the fully open position so they can access the feed all the time as they are still too light weight to be able to open the lid by stepping on the treadle.)

If you give the girls more seating options, they might decide that they prefer not to sit on the feeder. Until they figure it out, you could use the self-clinging Saran Wrap on the tops of the feeder. I use that on the tops of the brooder plate when the babies start hopping up there.

Keeping the treadle clean might just be a pain in the butt chore. I have sand in my coop and run, so don’t seem to have that problem. (Except with the Littles, they just poop everywhere!!) Maybe add some sand to the area around your feeders and waterer, so they have to walk through the sand to get to the feeders.

 

[Wise Woman]

Thank you for the tips Farmgirl1878. The girls have plenty of places to roost. Old tires, a large wooden ladder, cinder block steps, a picnic bench, the top of the external nestboxes and so forth. They don't perch per say on the feeders, but they do feel the need to walk across the top of them constantly and then they poop while up there. I have their eating area filled with smooth pebbles as they were kicking dirt into the feeders previously.

Thank you for the sand suggestion. Been there, done that, not a sand fan and I a sure they would just fling that around as well. I have been thinking of putting down a thin layer of sweet PDZ all thought the run though, in hopes of making the poo dry out quicker and less likely to stick to their feet. It is a bit of a chore for me to be cleaning these feeders off every day and the racket they make every time they open and close is getting very annoying. I may just have to go back to the old hanging feeders as they were far less work for me.

 

[Birdsong 82]

If it’s your contractor is it possible you could ask him to hose down his equipment elsewhere. I understand he has to maintain his equipment but maybe politely explain to him the problem and see if you can find another spot. As far is been pooping on it I had a problem with that with the water container I had and I put a squirrel baffle on top. They can’t really stand on that without sliding right off so that it’s helped me some