My girls are about 9 months old and have been in the coop with the same Little Giant Hanging Feeder with the same layer pellets for about 6 of those months. Everything has been great up until about 2 weeks ago. All of a sudden they are getting pellets everywhere except in their beaks it seems. They are wasting so much food. I tried to "make" them eat it by not refilling their feeder one morning, thinking they would eat it off the run floor, no dice. What can I do to stop this?! Thanks!
Is it at all possible something is wrong with the feed? moldy or bad or anything? Chickens are good at knowing that sort of thing. Just a thought. If that is the only food option and they are going without something seems off.
I just got a new bag of feed and they are still doing it. it's not their only source of food, they free range most of the day eating everything in sight, which mostly means my garden. :/
Ah. You might want to consider leaving them locked up the first half of the day if it works with your schedule. That way when they are the hungriest it is there only option. Otherwise they may just keep eating the yummier stuff. You could also try wetting it into a bit of a mash. I have never tried it but have heard about people doing that with pellets and birds that don't like them. Some people also ferment and say their chickens seem to like it more.
We have the same Little Giant hanging feeders. -chickens were pecking and spilling the feed. -hubby constructed wooden trays to place underneath the feeders. The chickens consume any spilled feed by pecking it out of the tray, or via mash. I scoop the leftover "tray" feed up about mid morning and place it into small trough feeders, add water, and they gobble it up! (I repeat this again in the late afternoon. Most feed is cleared out before roosting time.) We do feed crumbles. -tried pellets, and the only way the hens would eat them is in mash form.
Have you raised the feeder higher to match their growth? They WILL eat what spills if you don't give them more Be patient, They won't starve if you don't refill it every day
I noticed with my birds that they would get real aggressive at feeding time as they grew. What I did was start using a bigger feeder. I went from a small coffee can sized hanging feeder to a 5 gal feeder and the messes stopped. The new feeder holds more feed so it's heavier and the birds don't swing the thing around like they used to, and I don't have to fill it as often. My new feeder is a 5 gallon pail with a plastic base from a planter screwed to the bottom. I drilled 1in holes around the bottom of the pail for the feed to flow out of. The base is a lot taller than the old one and holds a lot of feed and keeps it inside. With more feed available they aren't as aggressive as they used to be.
I am going to do this to our feeder as soon as I get time. http://www.tillysnest.com/2012/09/outsmarting-chickens-at-feeder.html In the mean time, I just don't fill the feeder. They eventually eat the crumble off the sand coop floor. They are not dumb though, I have never seen them eat the sand, just the bits of crumble.
