- Sep 3, 2013
- 47
- 10
- 24
When my chicks out grew their mason jar chick feeder at about 12 weeks, I replaced it with this 7 pound hanging feeder.
At the time they were going through a quart and a half a day, but were knocking the feeder over constantly. I figured that the new feeder would last several days and they wouldn't be able to knock it over. Imagine my surprise when I filled it the first morning and returned that evening to find it completely empty! I had sat it on the floor of their run and they simply scratched it all out and it was all packed under the hardware cloth bottom which is about 1 1/2" - 3" off the ground (the coop sits on a slight slope leveled up with pavers). It was wet from the ground (it was raining) and covered in poo so not really salvageable.
I decided that hanging it would prevent them from scratching it out so I put a hook on the bottom of the coop. The coop is elevated about 20" above the enclosed run. This put the bottom of the feeder about 6" off the ground and ensures that no one can perch on top of it. This slowed down the waste for a while, but now at 17 weeks, they are back to emptying it in 6 hours with 70% or more of it being waste.
I can't afford to keep throwing away several pounds of feed every week and I have to move the entire coop to clean it all out which isn't feasible to do every day. Between poo, ground moister and now mice tunneling under, I don't really want to give the waste feed back to the girls anyway.
What can I do to remedy this without having to buy or build a different feeder? I've thought about a pan under the feeder to catch the waste, but that will just encourage them to perch on the lip of the pan and I won't be able to keep them from pooing in it. Any suggestions?
At the time they were going through a quart and a half a day, but were knocking the feeder over constantly. I figured that the new feeder would last several days and they wouldn't be able to knock it over. Imagine my surprise when I filled it the first morning and returned that evening to find it completely empty! I had sat it on the floor of their run and they simply scratched it all out and it was all packed under the hardware cloth bottom which is about 1 1/2" - 3" off the ground (the coop sits on a slight slope leveled up with pavers). It was wet from the ground (it was raining) and covered in poo so not really salvageable.
I decided that hanging it would prevent them from scratching it out so I put a hook on the bottom of the coop. The coop is elevated about 20" above the enclosed run. This put the bottom of the feeder about 6" off the ground and ensures that no one can perch on top of it. This slowed down the waste for a while, but now at 17 weeks, they are back to emptying it in 6 hours with 70% or more of it being waste.
I can't afford to keep throwing away several pounds of feed every week and I have to move the entire coop to clean it all out which isn't feasible to do every day. Between poo, ground moister and now mice tunneling under, I don't really want to give the waste feed back to the girls anyway.
What can I do to remedy this without having to buy or build a different feeder? I've thought about a pan under the feeder to catch the waste, but that will just encourage them to perch on the lip of the pan and I won't be able to keep them from pooing in it. Any suggestions?
