Hens making mess with feeder

[BigBlueHen53]

How high is the feeder from the floor? It should be at least back height of the chickens. This can help with billing feed out. Also as mentioned above, the tray on the feeder can be adjusted. You might even try drilling new holes, to make a smaller gap at the tray.

I use no waste feeders with 3 inch 90 degree elbows, in a bucket. I use L brackets to hold the elbows in, instead of caulk. Below is the link to the no waste feeder build thread. If you build one of these, make sure you use 90 degree elbows, not 45 degree. If you have a rooster, I recommend using 4 inch elbows, because of the bigger combs.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...lon-25-feed-bucket-feeder-for-about-3.834227/

Inside my bucket, with L brackets holding the elbows.
View attachment 1947308

View attachment 1947317

Yes! This is the one I patterned mine after! It works great!

 

[jthornton]

ny suggestions or ideas why they'd be spreading their food all about?

They are looking for crumbles... take 1 cup of pellets and add 1 1/2" cups of water and let it absorb then stir it up and put it on an upside down bucket. I give mine that every day and when I need to worm them I put the dewormer in the water. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/safeguard-mash-zero-day-egg-withdrawal.1254653/

JT

 

[nick98370]

Yeah, like blackdog043 said raise the feeder. View attachment 1947577
Did you change the feed type/brand. If you did? Was the change gradual? Is the feed fresh? All these could result in spilt feed. GC

I'm going to raise the feeder and adjust the gap between the top and bottom tray. We'll see if that helps.

Strange to me that it would be happening all of the sudden. It's the same feeder setup and the same feed that I have used the entire time. Only difference is that it's been getting colder here (WA), so wondering if they are spending more time inside the coop and bumping into the feeder.

 

[nick98370]

Sweep up all that food and throw it into the run. They will ignore it in the coop but act like it's halloween candy when you throw it in the run. Chickens are stupid like that.

I've done this a couple of times and noticed that they think it's a treat when I put it in the run. I'll rake it into the run every couple of days. Took this picture just before I did that. Dumb chickens.

 

[ColtHandorf]

That's a crazy amount of wasted pellets on the ground. I've never seen that much on the ground with my birds. Even with crumble, which they waste a ton of. I'd definitely recommend raising the feeder and adjusting the depth of the pan. If you have access to a game camera you might set it up to see just how exactly it's happening. That would drive me insane.

 

[Acre4Me]

We didn’t feel like taking the time to make something, and bought this instead:

It works well for us. We hang it in the run at back height. This feeder is two parts only -easy to clean. The inner middle (green) part has a tall round cone shape so the feed flows down. The dividers keep the birds from swiping their beaks side to side, and the inner edge/rim prevents them from billing out. There are various sizes and brands of this feeder-ours was purchased at Tractor Supply and is red/white, rather than the green/white if this pic.

we remove the feeder from the run daily. In the winter, during very cold weather, we will put this on some blocks in the coop to encourage them to fill up on food so they can keep up their body heat, and to allow the more timid birds to eat in the coop. Otherwise, it is always outside.

 

[Folly's place]

I use the yellow plastic feeders from Premier1supplies.com, which is a great source for information and stuff anyway.
This model holds about eleven pounds of feed, and can be hung up, and helps a lot with billing out, even with the crumbles that I feed.
And it's inexpensive!
Mary

 

[PirateGirl]

I think simply by putting your existing feeder on blocks instead of hanging it will help. They won't be able to swing it when eating or attempting to jump on it so it won't be as easy to tip and spill feed.

 

[debbie22]

I tired those no waster feeders and they work good but food was collecting on the bottom and drawing moisture from the air and getting rancid after weeks. Plus those elbows cost $5 each.

I built two copies of @jthornton feeder from this thread. The slope of the bottom funnels all the food out of the feeder and none is left in it week after week. With the 1" gap on the bottom and dividers the birds can't really push food side to side and make a mess. I only edited his design with a wood panel on the front with a small lexan window for strength. One sheet of plywood for $20 so Each feeder only costs $10 plus glue, screws and nails. My copy is here if you want to read it. His version of the feeder is the best I have ever seen!

Sweep up all that food and throw it into the run. They will ignore it in the coop but act like it's halloween candy when you throw it in the run. Chickens are stupid like that.

@archeryrob I like your invention. I used to feed mine on a mix called Red Comb, but after a few months they started throwing out all the stuff they didn't like as much. That started me on a long journey of trying out every crumb and pellet we can get over here, and dealing with mess after mess, until I discovered Fancy Feed layer pellets last year, which the bantams and large fowl are still happy with. No more mess. But what to do with all the stock piled Red Comb.... Throw a few handfuls around their garden as a treat and they run round until every little bit is polished off. Chickens

 

[nick98370]

Thanks everyone for your wonderful advice. I decided to take the easiest route first and just lower the gap between the tray and pellet bucket. I also raised the feeder to back height as some had suggested. So far, been going well. Not as much mess.

Today, I used a colander to sift all the pellets out of the sand and threw it on the run floor. Took a while but didn’t want to take all of that sand out and have to put new sand in the coop.

I've got the coop floor nice and clean again, so I'll be able to monitor if this continues to be a problem. If so, then I'll take one of the suggestions to build a different feeder.

Thanks again, everyone, for your advice and comments. Great group of people on here!