Grandpa's Treadle feeder vs. chicken condo feeder

[Sylvester017]

I'm really wanting to know, what do you think of the Barn Coop you got from chickencondos? I'm considering one of their coops, but am interested in real-world experience with them (they seem almost too good to be true).

I'm really wanting to know about your experience with the Barn Coop from chickencondos.com and how it's holding up. Can you share your experience?

There are PROs and CONs to everything we buy. Our decision to go with the ChickenCondos Barn Coop was after an exhaustive on-line research for a couple years and after the disappointment of purchasing a feed-store coop built by a customer (it was custom-built and a nice design but out of the cheapest materials possible!). On-line there was no one single design or materials that satisfied us 100% and the ChickenCondos coop came the nearest to our requirements.

OUR 1st LITTLE COOP - GOOD CUSTOM DESIGN BUT VERY CHEAP OSB MATERIALS AND FLIMSY CHICKEN POULTRY WIRE-what was the builder thinking?!


I wanted a new Barn Coop look, wanted it painted and attractive, wanted heavy-duty wheel package portability, with an open pen below the coop, and above all, easy-to-assemble. I kept looking at the Amish and Amish Barn Coops because they were well-built pine and many had options - there was Eggstreme Fiberglass Coops also that had the Amish look and easy care -- but out of all of these Amish or Barn styles we couldn't have the design in our hot SoCalif climate zone. These coops would do better in snow or cold climates.

CONS: Back to ChickenCondos Barn Coop. The first shipment arrived with a damaged window wall, dented kennel-run panels, powder-coated paint scraped off the metal parts everywhere, a bent support bar, a roost mount was torn from a wall, broken chicken ladder, a dislocated wheel, chips and nicks in the wall siding, and many missing screws pulled out of the pre-assembled parts. All this damage was a result of poor manufacturer packaging so that the trucking company from Utah to SoCalif encountered a lot of damage from being moved around maybe from forklift damage and being shoved around in the SAIA shipping trucks as they picked up loads along the way. Some packaged screws and accessories fell out of the open pallet crate that the manufacturer constructed for shipping and the roost poles were openly damaged and rough with splinters. If the Coop parts had been in enclosed plywood packaging instead of an open pallet the pokes and dents could've been eliminated because SAIA nearly destroyed the shipment postponing delivery to us only 20 miles from Los Angeles for 3 days - so I'm sure additional damage was done at the L.A. terminal as SAIA loaded and unloaded the shipment every day until it finally got delivered - SAIA was not very cooperative about meeting their own scheduled daily deliveries until I had to contact ChickenCondos to get on SAIA's butt. I complained to Customer Service and sent about 25 photographs of the damages not to mention the poor welding on some hinges that would not line up during coop assembly. After the photographs were emailed to ChickenCondos they were EXCELLENT about replacing several broken walls, roosts, screws, bolts, paint to fix the scrapes and damage but again they sent all the parts on an open pallet with the inefficient SAIA shipping again - I even offered to pay the extra cost to have enclosed packaging - they did a somewhat better use of pallet boards but it was still open pallet. Parts came damaged again but not as badly as the first shipment so we didn't send anything back and worked with the parts we had. I told ChickenCondos Customer Service desk to please ship the replacement walls,etc, in a closed wall packaging but they didn't so SAIA did its regular damage but ChickenCondos made sure SAIA didn't delay 3 days before delivery like the previous time. Well, the ChickenCondos videos show you it takes only one person a few minutes to assemble the Barn Coop. Ha-Ha! It takes more than a few DAYS if you have to stop and spray paint multiple metal bars and wheel wells that got damaged in shipment, or have to paint several nicks and scrapes on outside coop walls, disassemble a broken wall to replace with another new wall, paint the inside of the coop walls (they are NOT made of WOOD as the ChickenCondos video says but made out of hard particle cardboard). We are seniors and could comfortably assemble only the 4 walls with the easy hinges. The roof was a challenge and very tall and the wheel package very heavy so our house contractor volunteered to use his time and tools to finish the assembly. That Barn Coop is a HUGE sucker -- it is a 4x4 coop but stands OVER 6 feet tall and heavy - the shipping weight with crate was over 750-lbs. We love the dimensions but are so relieved we didn't opt for the larger heavier 4x6 Barn Coop. The 4x4 with wheel package is hard enough to move around!!

HAD TO PAINT THESE INTERIOR PARTICLE BOARD WALLS AND JUST HOPE THEY STAND THE TEST OF TIME. OUR 4 HENS HAVE A LOT OF ROOM INSIDE SO WE HAVEN'T SEEN ANY DAMAGE FROM POOPS OR MOISTURE SO FAR! I ADDED TRIM AROUND THE INTERIOR WINDOWS SO A HEN WOULDN'T BE TEMPTED TO CHEW AT ANY OPEN PARTICLE BOARD EDGES. JUST ME BEING A WORRIER!


THIS IS AS FAR AS WE GOT DURING ASSEMBLY AND OUR CONTRACTOR FINISHED PUTTING THE REST OF IT TOGETHER. NOT AS EASY OR FAST AS THE CHICKENCONDOS VIDEO SHOWS IT. MY CONTRACTOR WAS ABLE TO FIX THE ONE DISLOCATED WHEEL SO WE SAVED TIME NOT HAVING TO WAIT FOR A REPLACEMENT WHEEL.



PROS: Now, you'd think we'd be turned off by all the shipping and damage fiasco with ChickenCondos and SAIA but the Customer Service at ChickenCondos really stepped to the front and rectified all my complaints fast. I had sent them several long emails with detailed descriptions and photos of each and every damaged part including the broken crate with some of the parts falling halfway out. I was disappointed that they didn't enclose the replacement crate completely and shipped partially open pallet but that disaster is all behind us now. At least they didn't require us to ship the damaged walls and accessories back so we still have those. My recommendation is that you specify and are WILLING to pay the extra cost to have a completely enclosed plywood or similar material as walls around the coop pieces instead of an open pallet. If possible, specify something other than SAIA for shipping as their Los Angeles terminal is most inept in our experience.

ChickenCondos Barn Coop has so many available options to customize the coop that I was ecstatic. No other website coop gave so many options and accessories for a coop than ChickenCondos. We ordered everything except the dig-proof panels because our coop rests on a cement slab. We got a couple galvanized chicken treadle feeders, extra ladder ramps, the chicken pop-door (we chose not to get the automated one), the extra floor tray, two added windows, the customized run ( we asked for a size not offered on the site and they made it for us), predator nite eyes, and so many other options we bypassed that we didn't need. It was truly customized to our specifications. We didn't want the PVC feeder or waterer so they closed the openings for us on those features. Everything was built just as we ordered. Amber in Cust Svc understood my choices exactly and confirmed in email writing with an actual invoice sheet. She was also my contact for the replacement parts.

Now that our hens have been using the Barn Coop for several months, we have been very pleased with it. The chicken ladder/ramp was made out of the same Shed material as the outside Shed walls of the coop so they are not the best but have held up surprisingly well outdoors in all kinds of weather and chicken traffic. I complained to Customer Service about this Shed material as a chicken ramp and have noticed on their website that they are constructing wood ramps now - I hope that was because of my recommendation! ChickenCondos has come out with a plastic coop (not a Barn style) and it looks similar in theory to the Eglu Egg Cube from Omelet except roomier and better arrangement than Omelet IMO. This plastic coop was not available when we ordered our Barn Coop but I still would've ordered the Barn Coop as it is pleasing to look at and comes in 6 different color choices. I love this Barn Coop, am happy with the color I picked for it, glad we got the heavy-duty wheel package, glad I ordered extra ladders and egg boxes (it comes with 4 egg boxes normally), and our large fowl like the rounded-edge 2x2 roosts that came with the coop. I tried adding a 2x4 rounded plank but they preferred the 2x2 rounded edge so we left the 2x2 in place. The Barn Coop comes with 5 roost poles but we only use one. The Silkies have always and continue using the nestboxes for their sleeping (it's a Silkie thing to pile up rather than roost on poles). Our Silkies use poles during the day but roost in nestboxes. There is an option for a solid sliding clean-out floor tray or an open-wire tray and we ordered both. Our summers are so humid we will use the open-wire tray and leave the people door open with an open-wire door screen -- our humid summers hit over 100o for several days or weeks in a row. The additional 4x4 run is easily attached by nuts and bolts in easy-to-align hinges. If we were not seniors the coop is probably easy to assemble but we just got a shaky start with our experience. Our contractor is building a roof over the Barn Coop so the coop stays shaded in summer and protected from the winter rains and keep us dry walking to the egg collection box. We invested a lot of $$$ in this coop and are taking all the precautions we think will help to preserve it for our lifetime.

THE EGG BOX, CHICKEN POP DOOR, VENTILATION VENTS, WINDOWS, AND ROOST MOUNTS, ARE ALREADY ASSEMBLED WHEN THE CRATE ARRIVED. SUPPOSEDLY, IF NOT DAMAGED LIKE OURS WAS, IT WAS READY TO NUT/BOLT IT TOGETHER THE DAY IT ARRIVED.

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks for posting the link to the eBay listing folks but you can save some money by just Googling to find our main website. eBay charges a pretty hefty fee for selling and the lower the shipping costs to about 60% of what it costs us to ship a feeder to most states so we tack on $15.00 to the selling price on eBay.

Just Google Rat Proof Chicken Feeder, we have been the top Google result for about two years now thanks to our customers posting links for us. Finally got our first shipment of feeders from my Philippines shop a week or so ago so I have about eight tons of feeders. LOL, won't be staying up assembling feeders till ten pm any longer when my cabinet business is busy. We have much cheaper labor over there so we used thicker gauge steel and were able to fold safety seams on two additional lid edges and both top and bottom of the feed tray, and we have a great bunch of very happy workers that are grateful for a job that pays about double the going rate and they get health insurance and social security,something that literally most of them have ever had.

I always warn folks that our feeder is a bit "rustic", for lack of a better word. If you are picky the Grandpa feeders have a wonderful fit and finish and might be a be a better match for you. Not a lot of money in a $65.00 budget to come close to what the more expensive feeders can do but if you want an inexpensive solution to a rat problem the feeder works like a charm. Watch out for the feeders that have the wide plate instead of a narrow treadle, rats can overwhelm that type of feeder. Make sure the door is spring loaded too because those that are not can be simply pushed open by rats,squirrels, and large wild birds. There is a commercial flock called Fifth Crow Farms that installed a couple dozen of our feeders last year and they gave high marks on the feeder.

http://fifthcrowfarm.com/new-grant-funded-chicken-feeders-installed/

What was interesting about that story was how the feeders saved a lot more than 20 pounds of feed a day for the flock owner, it also saved their other vegetable crops that the birds were destroying. They said once the feed was out of reach for the birds, the birds simply abandoned the area for good instead of sticking around for the entire year. Rats will do the same, they will move on to the next coop that doesn't have a rat proof feeder.

We have a new shopping cart too so ordering is a lot easier and it captures your phone number for the shipping label. We use FedEx Ground and they do a great job once we learned to package that dang heavy counterweight so it didn't bang the bottom of the feeder. Haven't had a damaged feeder in many months now (knock on wood!).

Next up is to start a display ad here on BYC as soon as I can afford it. I pumped about 50 K into this project for just over two years before the first container load arrived so I need to sell some feeders before I invest in advertising. Kind of a catch 22 situation.

Are your feeders already totally assembled or is there some part that requires skill to put together? We refuse to assemble DIY parts because 9x out of 10 something is missing, doesn't fit together, or we're too mechanically challenged to understand instructions! That was why we got a couple ChickenCondos treadle feeders so we didn't have to lift a tool - not the cream-of-the-crop feeders but we didn't have to DIY in any way, shape, or form!

 

[Al Gerhart]

Hello,

Yes, you need to put the treadle bar on it, a wire link, a one bolt counterweight,and a spring.

First take the one bolt counterweight and poke the bolt through the hole in the treadle, add the locking nut and snug it down after you rotate the weight till the pin hits the top of the treadle bar. Very simple, impossible to get wrong.

There are two bolts that are inserted, two washers - one inside and one outside. Add a nut. Tighten them up and then slip the treadle onto these bolts and add a locking nut. Tighten it up, then back it off an eight of a turn.

Then there is a wire link taped to the side of the feeder. Remove it, poke the pre bent ends into the hole in the door axle crank and into the small hole in the treadle bar and bend them over a bit.

Then there is a spring that hooks over the door axle/treadle wire link junction and then you slip the top part over the side of the feeder.

And you are done. Sometimes you need to take pliers and carefully stretch the spring out to reduce the closing pressure.

A five minute or six minute operation. A crescent wrench and a pair of pliers needed. We have a video online

We leave the treadle off to keep the shipping costs reasonable. If we shipped them fully assembled it would cost $36.23 to Castroville CA, 95012 but if we take the treadle off it costs only $22.76. That is almost a $14.00 savings, well worth five minutes of your time. Plus the price of the box would nearly double as would the styrofoam inner packing and there would be a larger chance of shipping damage.

I personally unbox and inspect each feeder now that we are making them in the Philippines. Once in a blue moon both the inspector in the Philippines and I both miss something so we promptly ship the missing spring or hardware item by mail the next day. And each feeder has the wire link pre bent to size after the treadle has been installed so you are guaranteed that everything will fit.

We sell around ten feeders most days so we must be doing something right. I visit my shop in the Philippines every six weeks or so to check on things, they are doing an excellent job and the workers are super happy to have regular jobs with full benefits. 85% of the workers over there are hired on contract, five months work, then a month off, and back to another five months of work if they were good workers. No insurance, no retirement plan, no vacation, no 13th month bonus each year, have to pay about four days wages for all the medical testing (chest xrays no kidding), uniform, sometimes for their company ID card. As contract workers they don't qualify for minimum wage so coming to work for us means about a 100% pay raise. Imagine working eleven hours as a sales clerk in a mall for $4.00 per day or $5.00 for eleven hours of construction work. We help some of them out with relocation expenses if they are recommended by family member employees, feed them a free all you can eat lunch, and have bought company bicycles to loan out to the ones that don't have transportation. Otherwise they spend about one sixth of their daily pay in jeepney fare. Most don't have any sort of ID card and if they are highly recommended by existing workers we usually help out with that, better part of a month's wages to obtain IF they actually have a birth certificate and there are no typos on it. Otherwise they are looking at a year's salary to correct a misspelled name or the wrong sex listed on the birth certificate.

Right now we can produce about 20% more a day than we sell so we will need to add a second shift before the end of summer I think. Occasionally you get a customer with unrealistic expectations for a $65.00 feeder and you would think their throat had been slit or their dog raped they way they carry on but 99% of the customers are ecstatic about curing their rat problems. Some will buy one and come back and buy others as gifts. One lady bought three more this weekend and drop shipped them to family all over the U.S. Had one lady post on Facebook the other day that her feed dropped from one sack a month to one sack every three months.

 

[Sylvester017]

Hello,

Yes, you need to put the treadle bar on it, a wire link, a one bolt counterweight,and a spring.

First take the one bolt counterweight and poke the bolt through the hole in the treadle, add the locking nut and snug it down after you rotate the weight till the pin hits the top of the treadle bar. Very simple, impossible to get wrong.

There are two bolts that are inserted, two washers - one inside and one outside. Add a nut. Tighten them up and then slip the treadle onto these bolts and add a locking nut. Tighten it up, then back it off an eight of a turn.

Then there is a wire link taped to the side of the feeder. Remove it, poke the pre bent ends into the hole in the door axle crank and into the small hole in the treadle bar and bend them over a bit.

Then there is a spring that hooks over the door axle/treadle wire link junction and then you slip the top part over the side of the feeder.

And you are done. Sometimes you need to take pliers and carefully stretch the spring out to reduce the closing pressure.

A five minute or six minute operation. A crescent wrench and a pair of pliers needed. We have a video online

We leave the treadle off to keep the shipping costs reasonable. If we shipped them fully assembled it would cost $36.23 to Castroville CA, 95012 but if we take the treadle off it costs only $22.76. That is almost a $14.00 savings, well worth five minutes of your time. Plus the price of the box would nearly double as would the styrofoam inner packing and there would be a larger chance of shipping damage.

I personally unbox and inspect each feeder now that we are making them in the Philippines. Once in a blue moon both the inspector in the Philippines and I both miss something so we promptly ship the missing spring or hardware item by mail the next day. And each feeder has the wire link pre bent to size after the treadle has been installed so you are guaranteed that everything will fit.

We sell around ten feeders most days so we must be doing something right. I visit my shop in the Philippines every six weeks or so to check on things, they are doing an excellent job and the workers are super happy to have regular jobs with full benefits. 85% of the workers over there are hired on contract, five months work, then a month off, and back to another five months of work if they were good workers. No insurance, no retirement plan, no vacation, no 13th month bonus each year, have to pay about four days wages for all the medical testing (chest xrays no kidding), uniform, sometimes for their company ID card. As contract workers they don't qualify for minimum wage so coming to work for us means about a 100% pay raise. Imagine working eleven hours as a sales clerk in a mall for $4.00 per day or $5.00 for eleven hours of construction work. We help some of them out with relocation expenses if they are recommended by family member employees, feed them a free all you can eat lunch, and have bought company bicycles to loan out to the ones that don't have transportation. Otherwise they spend about one sixth of their daily pay in jeepney fare. Most don't have any sort of ID card and if they are highly recommended by existing workers we usually help out with that, better part of a month's wages to obtain IF they actually have a birth certificate and there are no typos on it. Otherwise they are looking at a year's salary to correct a misspelled name or the wrong sex listed on the birth certificate.

Right now we can produce about 20% more a day than we sell so we will need to add a second shift before the end of summer I think. Occasionally you get a customer with unrealistic expectations for a $65.00 feeder and you would think their throat had been slit or their dog raped they way they carry on but 99% of the customers are ecstatic about curing their rat problems. Some will buy one and come back and buy others as gifts. One lady bought three more this weekend and drop shipped them to family all over the U.S. Had one lady post on Facebook the other day that her feed dropped from one sack a month to one sack every three months.

I am so terribly sorry but the Rat-Proof video is so far from the camera lens that we can't see where the nuts and bolts and wires go. Your video shows it being done easily - of course he knows what he's doing - but we couldn't make heads or tails from the distant and somewhat shadowy video. Much closer and well-lighted images of the process of what screws, nuts, and wires are being inserted everywhere would be ever so much more helpful. This poor video is the very reason we didn't go with this feeder a couple years ago because we couldn't see one detailed thing on the youtube video and were afraid to guess at how to assemble some of the areas -- it made us think it might of been a shady deal since there was no closeups during most of the assembly. As a result we instead paid $238 for two completely assembled/shipped ChickenCondos treadle feeders who shipped it free with the Barn Coop we ordered. The ChickenCondos feeder is not what I would call excellently-built but then we didn't have to guess at how to put anything together. Will you post another more close-up well-lighted video soon? I'm telling you, we are seniors and horrible at mechanical assemblies. The only way we can invest in another treadle feeder - if it's from you - it will have to be a much better visual quality video. I applaud your venture and would like to support it but there needs to be a better visual detail on your video. We aren't too bad at following illustrated instructions if such are provided with the feeder. Many thanks in advance for your reply

.

 

[Al Gerhart]

No, we won't be doing anything with our videos. Products are designed for the broad market, not the handful of customers that might have problems putting something together. Looks like there is a competitor that sells a fully assembled feeder, albeit at nearly twice the price, so people have a choice.

There are all sorts of problems with that feeder anyway. Minuscule counterweight system, looks like they kept the cost to a minimum by avoiding a large counterweight system and spring loading the door but it won't keep out more than one rat based on the weight needed to trip the treadle. They have the treadle crank screwed to the front of the door and what looks like a wire door axle instead of making a proper heavy steel door axle that is integral with the treadle crank. A wire axle will do for the lid, used a few times a month or week, not a door that has to open a hundred times a day. That design isn't holding up for more than a few years at most. Then there is the silly idea of making a wide treadle step within inches of the door. A pack of rats, heck three maybe, can overwhelm the non spring loaded, non counter weighted door (a stack of washers doesn't count) or they can simply push the door open. Looks like they designed the product to be cheap to produce and are selling it at a premium price.

Sure they order "free shipping" with the purchase of an expensive coop, one that you yourself described as ridden with defects and damage. Looks like a tough business to ship a chicken coop and not have it torn up in transit. But these guys don't have significant market share in the chicken feeder market, a Google search doesn't even put them on the first page. Inferior product, 83% higher cost, shipping at least 50% more, hardly going to be a choice for most customers.

But hey, you can save six minutes not assembling it. Go for it!

 

[Sylvester017]

No, we won't be doing anything with our videos. Products are designed for the broad market, not the handful of customers that might have problems putting something together. Looks like there is a competitor that sells a fully assembled feeder, albeit at nearly twice the price, so people have a choice.

There are all sorts of problems with that feeder anyway. Minuscule counterweight system, looks like they kept the cost to a minimum by avoiding a large counterweight system and spring loading the door but it won't keep out more than one rat based on the weight needed to trip the treadle. They have the treadle crank screwed to the front of the door and what looks like a wire door axle instead of making a proper heavy steel door axle that is integral with the treadle crank. A wire axle will do for the lid, used a few times a month or week, not a door that has to open a hundred times a day. That design isn't holding up for more than a few years at most. Then there is the silly idea of making a wide treadle step within inches of the door. A pack of rats, heck three maybe, can overwhelm the non spring loaded, non counter weighted door (a stack of washers doesn't count) or they can simply push the door open. Looks like they designed the product to be cheap to produce and are selling it at a premium price.

Sure they order "free shipping" with the purchase of an expensive coop, one that you yourself described as ridden with defects and damage. Looks like a tough business to ship a chicken coop and not have it torn up in transit. But these guys don't have significant market share in the chicken feeder market, a Google search doesn't even put them on the first page. Inferior product, 83% higher cost, shipping at least 50% more, hardly going to be a choice for most customers.

But hey, you can save six minutes not assembling it. Go for it!

You have good points. Just wish your video wasn't all in shadows - we would've got it a couple years back if we could figure what was going on in the video.

 

[mamakat74]

No, we won't be doing anything with our videos.  Products are designed for the broad market, not the handful of customers that might have problems putting something together.  Looks like there is a competitor that sells a fully assembled feeder, albeit at nearly twice the price, so people have a choice.  

There are all sorts of problems with that feeder anyway.  Minuscule counterweight system, looks like they kept the cost to a minimum by avoiding a large counterweight system and spring loading the door but it won't keep out more than one rat based on the weight needed to trip the treadle.  They have the treadle crank screwed to the front of the door and what looks like a wire door axle instead of making a proper heavy steel door axle that is integral with the treadle crank.  A wire axle will do for the lid, used a few times a month or week, not a door that has to open a hundred times a day. That design isn't holding up for more than a few years at most.   Then there is the silly idea of making a wide treadle step within inches of the door.  A pack of rats, heck three maybe, can overwhelm the non spring loaded, non counter weighted door (a stack of washers doesn't count) or they can simply push the door open.  Looks like they designed the product to be cheap to produce and are selling it at a premium price.

Sure they order "free shipping" with the purchase of an expensive coop, one that you yourself described as ridden with defects and damage.  Looks like a tough business to ship a chicken coop and not have it torn up in transit.  But these guys don't have significant market share in the chicken feeder market, a Google search doesn't even put them on the first page.  Inferior product, 83% higher cost, shipping at least 50% more, hardly going to be a choice for most customers.

But hey, you can save six minutes not assembling it.   Go for it!

This is just about the rudest reply I have ever seen, and makes me want to find an alternative product. I came here today to research these feeders, and your reply has really put me off. You can make these same points without being rude.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Funny how the original poster didn't find it rude and said I made some good points yet somehow you are "offended"?

Here is how capitalism works.... buyer and seller find each other and one trades cash for the other's product. Both are happy with the deal or it wouldn't go forward. Being happy depends on being informed. So when the poster asked about assembly process I took twenty minutes of my time in a very busy day and laid it all out in great detail. I also laid out the reasoning why we do what we do and how it benefits the customer. That wasn't enough so the potential customer asked for more expense and trouble in making a new video. That is negotiating, smart consumer to try that but this isn't a large ticket item that has enough profit in it to justify spending time and effort to make a new video. So I said no. No meeting of the minds, no trade, he keeps his money I keep my product. A good outcome for both.

Now two points that some might think about. A: why not make a new video and B: Why not invest the time placating this customer and make the sale?

A: The much maligned single page of assembly instructions is enough for 99% of the customers. Some rave about how easy the feeder is to assemble. Two bolts installed in the only two holes in the feeder, then slip the treadle on and insert the wire link. The 90% of the other 1% find the video more than enough to explain things. There there is that tiny percentage that simply are not mechanically orientated as the poster clearly admitted to his credit. You know what? As a businessman I don't want that customer.

This is not a product you pull out of a box and stick it in the coop. It needs assembled, it needs the spring adjusted and usually the treadle bar has to be pulled to one side or the other. It needs fastened to a wall or post so it doesn't rock around. This is not a product for a clutz to be buying so the instructions are a bit obtuse on purpose so those sorts are discouraged from buying. Because if a person doesn't understand there will be some tinkering needed they are going to be unhappy with their purchase. Far better they purchase another product that will make them happy.

B: Investing the time and effort required to make one sale is simply silly. Past the reason above, to not sell to those that aren't capable of setting up the feeder, you don't want to sell to customers that need a lot of hand holding during the sale or afterward. We get calls every week asking to do a manual sale, the person is having problems with the PayPal system or in placing their order. Not our shopping cart, the PayPal gateway. Usually a low balance rejecting the payment, or they are shipping to an address that isn't listed on their PayPal account, or sometimes PayPal itself is down for a few minutes and rather than try it again in an hour they are quick to ask for twenty minutes of your time during a busy day at your main job when the website clearly says not to call with questions but to submit them via email. So you would burn $50.00 worth of shop overhead coddling a customer for a product with a profit margin of about $6.00. Not a good way to stay in business. You just tell them to try the process again in a few minutes and to check that their using the correct log in info and a validated shipping address. 90% of the time you see their order a few minutes later in the email.

There are a certain number of people that aren't looking for a solution to the rats or wild birds stealing their feed. They also want the retail therapy experience, hand holding, and sometimes some major hinny kissing. Fine, go somewhere else. The feeder that doesn't work well, that will fail in a few years, that costs 83% more, and costs 50% more to ship is there waiting to serve you because they have 1300% more profit to make it worth their while. Good for them. That is capitalism.

I started making these feeders to solve a major problem of the back yard community, rats and wild birds. The BYC community helped a lot in finalizing the design and beta testing it. The feeder started out low tech, made out of plywood because that was the only way I could make one at the time. As it grew in sophistication and cost we kept the price the same at $65.00 and were losing money on feeders before long. I kept it up because I knew that the Philippines shop eventually would come on line and lower the costs of manufacturing and I spent about a hundred grand getting there. A hundred grand over two years before I ever saw a single dime of return as it took that long to establish the plant and fill the first container and get the export permit. Now I can net about $6.00 per feeder if the customer is a normal person, with normal abilities, common sense, and enough tenacity and determination to invest in the time to set the product up correctly. So there simply is not enough profit in the feeder to hold hands nor is there enough profit to make me want to spend my time doing that. Let em go elsewhere, let them pay 83% more or 300% more for a Grandpa feeder. And thank God we live in such a country where we have those choices.

 

[mamakat74]

After doing some research on these things, having the same concerns many of you do about the top opening treadle feeders, I looked at the two main options available in the US for front/inward opening treadle feeders. My issues with them were that 1- I didn't like the ramp on the more affordable one (not a full ramp, but a small step), and I worry my girls will have a harder time figuring it out, and 2- the other one with the ramp I liked was just too expensive with shipping. I was aggravated that the one I really wanted seemed to only be available in the UK. It has a water-tight plastic top, which the American models don't have, a full ramp, and comes in 3 sizes.

So I went on Amazon and I found a seller who has these UK models, and I ordered the smallest one. Since we have Amazon Prime, we got free shipping, AND we got $20 off the sale price, making it a total of about $120. The link to what I bought is here. I'll let you guys know how it works for us.

 

[BrushyHillGuide]

Thanks for posting the link to the eBay listing folks but you can save some money by just Googling to find our main website. eBay charges a pretty hefty fee for selling and the lower the shipping costs to about 60% of what it costs us to ship a feeder to most states so we tack on $15.00 to the selling price on eBay.

Just Google Rat Proof Chicken Feeder, we have been the top Google result for about two years now thanks to our customers posting links for us. Finally got our first shipment of feeders from my Philippines shop a week or so ago so I have about eight tons of feeders. LOL, won't be staying up assembling feeders till ten pm any longer when my cabinet business is busy. We have much cheaper labor over there so we used thicker gauge steel and were able to fold safety seams on two additional lid edges and both top and bottom of the feed tray, and we have a great bunch of very happy workers that are grateful for a job that pays about double the going rate and they get health insurance and social security,something that literally most of them have ever had.

I always warn folks that our feeder is a bit "rustic", for lack of a better word. If you are picky the Grandpa feeders have a wonderful fit and finish and might be a be a better match for you. Not a lot of money in a $65.00 budget to come close to what the more expensive feeders can do but if you want an inexpensive solution to a rat problem the feeder works like a charm. Watch out for the feeders that have the wide plate instead of a narrow treadle, rats can overwhelm that type of feeder. Make sure the door is spring loaded too because those that are not can be simply pushed open by rats,squirrels, and large wild birds. There is a commercial flock called Fifth Crow Farms that installed a couple dozen of our feeders last year and they gave high marks on the feeder.

http://fifthcrowfarm.com/new-grant-funded-chicken-feeders-installed/

What was interesting about that story was how the feeders saved a lot more than 20 pounds of feed a day for the flock owner, it also saved their other vegetable crops that the birds were destroying. They said once the feed was out of reach for the birds, the birds simply abandoned the area for good instead of sticking around for the entire year. Rats will do the same, they will move on to the next coop that doesn't have a rat proof feeder.

We have a new shopping cart too so ordering is a lot easier and it captures your phone number for the shipping label. We use FedEx Ground and they do a great job once we learned to package that dang heavy counterweight so it didn't bang the bottom of the feeder. Haven't had a damaged feeder in many months now (knock on wood!).

Next up is to start a display ad here on BYC as soon as I can afford it. I pumped about 50 K into this project for just over two years before the first container load arrived so I need to sell some feeders before I invest in advertising. Kind of a catch 22 situation.

Is the link below your feeder? I found it before I saw this thread and I was thinking about ordering it for our new coop. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rat-Proof-Chicken-Feeder-Treadle-Feeder-Automatic-Feeder-/141051672129