How I stopped feed loss to squirrels and other rodents

[bayareapilot]

So I have a feeder enclosure which has two feeder boxes facing opposite directions and they have those omelet Auto doors on them. Previously what I did is set open and close times on the feeders but of course that just resulted in lots of feeding on part of squirrels and other creatures in between the times that the chickens were feeding. But about a month ago I guess it was the company that makes the Omelette Auto doors came up with an upgrade we're basically you can attach a controller which looks similar to the old one but it has Wi-Fi connection and has an app that works with it. As soon as I saw that, I ordered two.
So what I did, is I put them both in manual mode so come around 6:00 a.m. I open both of the feeder enclosure doors so the chickens can feed. Then usually around 7:30 or so I close the feeder doors. This works out well because I'm usually done with breakfast around that time anyway. The next open time is around 10:00 a.m. with a close time somewhere around 11:30 or so. The final opening is around 3:00 and it stays up to about 4:30. Since it is powered by the app that runs on my phone I can do these open and closings from wherever I may be. Whether I'm flight instructing at an airport or I happen to be home. So I find it very convenient.

This has been a remarkable change which has led to significantly less feed being consumed by creatures other than the chickens. And I had tried a variety of things I tried the treadle feeders etc. Unfortunately I think here in the city maybe our squirrels are better educated and they figured out how to game the treadle feeder.

Now this is certainly a costly solution but I am more than pleased especially since I had The Omelette Auto doors already for the feeders all I had to do was get the updated control box for each of the doors.

I like using The Omelette Auto doors on the feeder since that's about as far as I trust them. For my chicken coop door I've been using the same all metal doors (pulletshut doors) which I've used for over 15 years. They've been very dependable and nothing is going to chew through them.

But these simple omelette Auto doors with this new Wi-Fi accessible controllers has been a wonderful Discovery for me. So if you raise your chickens as pets which I really do and definitely not any sort of commercial Enterprise. This has been a great solution for me and the timing couldn't have been better because I was getting tired of filling the two feeders as often as I was fully knowing that I was feeding squirrels Etc in the process.

 

[Stravager]

That sounds like a really interesting set up! Do you have a picture?

 

[bayareapilot]

There's not really much to see I just basically took 2x3s and some plywood and built a large box big enough to accommodate the two feeders I had built back to back and then I just mounted The Omelette Auto doors over each of the respective openings to the feeders. Nothing impressive about the carpentry but the idea works.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Squirrels are tough to stop but they can be stopped IF you have mostly medium to large breed of birds and don't live next to a forest packed with squirrels that don't look at a nearby farm as part of their territory they defend.

They rarely weigh over a pound, sometimes 1.5 pounds for a fat one... sorry, a squirrel of size.....a full figure squirrel. BBS... anyway, as long as you adjust the door tension to over say three pounds a squirrel or two won't be able to push the door open, IF the treadle feeder actually has a spring loaded door and most of the Chinese made feeders like the Grandpa feeder do not have a spring loaded door.

The other part of a treadle feeder that helps defeat squirrels is that it has a narrow and distant treadle so the squirrels can't gang up on the treadle with a half dozen of them at once. They won't cooperate, some will rush forward and get trapped inside. Which is why you want a treadle feeder with a french cleat so you can pick up the feeder when a squirrel gets trapped and either dispose of the tree rat or take it for a ride if your state doesn't have laws against transporting wild animals.

Don't count on trapping squirrels to deal with them, another one will move into the territory within days of finding out it is no longer defended.

Neat idea of using doors on timers but the wild birds, rats, and squirrels quickly learn the schedule and adjust their chow time. And if you are going for maximum weight gain or eggs per day, restricting feeding means less meat or eggs per day.

What would be awesome is a feeder with AI that can recognize individual chickens and an auto door but the cost and the issue of keeping electronics functioning in the inhospitable environment of a chicken coop probably makes this just a pipe dream.

 

[bayareapilot]

So I have a feeder enclosure which has two feeder boxes facing opposite directions and they have those omelet Auto doors on them. Previously what I did is set open and close times on the feeders but of course that just resulted in lots of feeding on part of squirrels and other creatures in between the times that the chickens were feeding. But about a month ago I guess it was the company that makes the Omelette Auto doors came up with an upgrade we're basically you can attach a controller which looks similar to the old one but it has Wi-Fi connection and has an app that works with it. As soon as I saw that, I ordered two.
So what I did, is I put them both in manual mode so come around 6:00 a.m. I open both of the feeder enclosure doors so the chickens can feed. Then usually around 7:30 or so I close the feeder doors. This works out well because I'm usually done with breakfast around that time anyway. The next open time is around 10:00 a.m. with a close time somewhere around 11:30 or so. The final opening is around 3:00 and it stays up to about 4:30. Since it is powered by the app that runs on my phone I can do these open and closings from wherever I may be. Whether I'm flight instructing at an airport or I happen to be home. So I find it very convenient.

This has been a remarkable change which has led to significantly less feed being consumed by creatures other than the chickens. And I had tried a variety of things I tried the treadle feeders etc. Unfortunately I think here in the city maybe our squirrels are better educated and they figured out how to game the treadle feeder.

Now this is certainly a costly solution but I am more than pleased especially since I had The Omelette Auto doors already for the feeders all I had to do was get the updated control box for each of the doors.

I like using The Omelette Auto doors on the feeder since that's about as far as I trust them. For my chicken coop door I've been using the same all metal doors (pulletshut doors) which I've used for over 15 years. They've been very dependable and nothing is going to chew through them.

But these simple omelette Auto doors with this new Wi-Fi accessible controllers has been a wonderful Discovery for me. So if you raise your chickens as pets which I really do and definitely not any sort of commercial Enterprise. This has been a great solution for me and the timing couldn't have been better because I was getting tired of filling the two feeders as often as I was fully knowing that I was feeding squirrels Etc in the process.

Just an update: After a recent Omelet firmware update, the door controllers go in and out of connection. Had been working perfectly before. Dealing with their customer service (such that it is on the 'service' part) is frustrating. I only seem to be able to email them and they eventually will reply. Still waiting for a reply from my query late last week regarding this problem. Had a thought about resetting the panel and starting over, skipping the firmware update, but I'm going to give them a few days more. Sure glad I don't use these on my coop door and only on the feeder box. Jeez.

 

[Al Gerhart]

You said that you tried treadle feeders, but what kind or brand?

For a treadle feeder to stop a rat or a squirrel it needs a spring to pre load the door and that allows to increase the tension on the door. As long as you have mostly full size birds a treadle feeder ought to stop squirrels unless there is a mob of them, even then, they will get trapped and can be disposed of.

Electronic devices in a chicken coop are going to eventually fail due to the corrosive environment. All that ammonia in the poop. The humidity. Temperature swings.

 

[bayareapilot]

You said that you tried treadle feeders, but what kind or brand?

For a treadle feeder to stop a rat or a squirrel it needs a spring to pre load the door and that allows to increase the tension on the door. As long as you have mostly full size birds a treadle feeder ought to stop squirrels unless there is a mob of them, even then, they will get trapped and can be disposed of.

Electronic devices in a chicken coop are going to eventually fail due to the corrosive environment. All that ammonia in the poop. The humidity. Temperature swings.

I guess I just have Smart squirrels. Tried a variety of brands including one recommended on this website. I use the controllers only on my feed box so I don't use the doors on my coupe because quite simply I don't trust them. I've had a squirrel eat through one of the plastic doors so I know they're not dependable against actual predators. The door I use for my coop is made by chicken doors I think they call it the pulletshut door. In contrast to the all plastic omelette door, the chicken doors coupe door is all metal and solid as a rock. One of the doors I've had for almost 14 years. Never hesitate to recommend them either because I can always reach their customer service and it's a small business and they're very good about being reachable which is quite a contrast to the experience I've had with the omelette company.

 

[Al Gerhart]

But which feeder failed?

Did it have a spring loaded door?

If so, did you ask for help or how to increase the spring tension?

 

[bayareapilot]

But which feeder failed?

Did it have a spring loaded door?

If so, did you ask for help or how to increase the spring tension?

The problem I had with a feeder tension is that adjusted too high the hens could open it and adjusted any other level the hens AND the squirrels could open it

 

[bayareapilot]

I guess I just have Smart squirrels. Tried a variety of brands including one recommended on this website. I use the controllers only on my feed box so I don't use the doors on my coupe because quite simply I don't trust them. I've had a squirrel eat through one of the plastic doors so I know they're not dependable against actual predators. The door I use for my coop is made by chicken doors I think they call it the pulletshut door. In contrast to the all plastic omelette door, the chicken doors coupe door is all metal and solid as a rock. One of the doors I've had for almost 14 years. Never hesitate to recommend them either because I can always reach their customer service and it's a small business and they're very good about being reachable which is quite a contrast to the experience I've had with the omelette company.

For anyone curious this is what the squirrels did to one of my doors. Apparently they got frustrated chawing at the thinner plastic so they never made it in other than maybe to stick their heads inside the feeder. I had called omelette about getting a replacement for just the back portion but they wanted $200 for the whole door assembly so that wasn't worth it so this store became spare parts for my other feeder doors. The only reason I know it was squirrels and not night time rodents is that I have security cameras on the feeders and I saw one good size squirrel chewing away at that corner to try to get in at the feed. Again I'm just grateful I don't use these doors to protect my coop. Because if a squirrel could do this I can only imagine what a larger animal with teeth could do with determination. Problem with making these things out of plastic I think. My regular Coop door is all metal made by chickendoors.com