Hanging feeders without strangling inhabitants

[ChickInDelight]

I am about to hang feeders in my duck / chicken abode. Suddenly, I am picturing a lovely duck neck wrapped in rope.

Should I use chain? Are there length requirements? How can I be sure my hanging feeders do not become nooses to the ducks and chickens?

 

[Beekissed]

The weight of your feeder will keep your rope taut and your feeder should be high enough that coming in contact with the rope just wouldn't happen.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Nearly all of my feeders are hanging and I have never had a problem with a bird getting tangled in the rope or chain. For the most part the rope is too high for them to easily reach and the weight of the feeder hanging from the end would make it difficult for a bird to move the line enough to get wrapped in it.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

How can I be sure my hanging feeders do not become nooses to the ducks and chickens?

Use a single rope with no loops​

 

[Weiden Farm]

they are not usually suicidal - they should be fine.

 

[heatherindeskies]

Quote:

 

[wyododge]

The best way to get a chicken to not hang itself buy the rope is to put a noose in it.

Then you are guaranteed not to have it hang itself.

The same goes for nest boxes and ramps...

 

[ChickInDelight]

Thanks folks. I used soft rope instead of the utility string I first intended to use.

The big ducks would not come in last night because I was working on the house when they had a mind to enter. I took the opportunity to move my 3 Pekin teenage girls in for the night.

While no ducks hung themselves, one did get caught in the frame of the wooden pallet and had to be un-wedged this morning. Since I had not planned on climbing over the 4 foot house wall, I was wearing a skirt and 3" heels. I wish my neighbors provided half the entertainment that I do.

 

[yinzerchick]

I wish my neighbors provided half the entertainment that I do.

I wish mine did too! I'm a one woman show myself.

 

[ChickInDelight]

I changed the rope to chain. Apparently, I did not have the feeders high enough.

One of my chocolate Runners, candidate for the Darwin awards, hung himself on the feeder. Rain had packed it up so that feed was not flowing out the bottom, so Hershey tried dipping his bill in the top where I pour the feed. I found him hanging.

Runners may just be too nervous for my set-up where they free-range during the day.

One of my fawn-and-whites has become stuck in the baby pool - twice. It is easier to get in than out. When I approach the pool, she finds the energy to get out, splashing pool water all over me.