Keeping chickens off treadle feeder tray lid

[PicketFarmer]

I recently got a Super Handy treadle feeder for my flock (11 barred rocks, 11 weeks old) and have been training them for the past couple of weeks. They're on the lower training bolt, with the lid half closed, but seem to be ready to take the training wheels off. However, I've noticed a lot that one (or two) chicken that will sometimes hop on the top and then walk onto the lid while the others are eating, or hop onto the lid from the peddle. While the training bolts are out, this is naturally not an issue, since they can't push it down. However, one time when I pushed the bolts in to observe them using the peddle while the lid was down, one of them again jumped on the lid as two others were eating. I didn't see exactly what happened, but I did see that the one on the lid managed to push it down onto one of the eating chicken's neck; fortunately, the lid didn't close entirely and I managed to shoo the offending chicken off before it snapped the poor screaming victim's neck (if that even would have happened). I should also note that the incident occurred after I filled the feeder, which always seems to send them into a feeding frenzy.

So that's my question for the treadle feeder users: have you had any issues with chickens jumping on the tray lid while others are eating, and if so, how did you deal with it? I'm hoping that it won't be a problem once they work out their pecking order and start eating in turns, but for now, I'm scared to take the training bolts out for fear of one of them getting their neck snapped by an impatient chicken and a falling lid.

Picture of the feeder:

 

[ronott1]

I do not have experience with treadle feeders!

How much pressure would the lid have on their neck?

Hopefully it is designed to not kill chickens

 

[Al Gerhart]

We have a saying in Oklahoma, farm animals are never safe around moving equipment and Oklahoma State Senators. If it moves, if enough animals are exposed to it, an animal will eventually find a way to injure itself on it. You can just use your imagination on the Senator part.

That said, a guillotine style treadle feeder is enormously more dangerous than an inward swinging door treadle feeder. We sell one guillotine style feeder that we call the MA 2017, MA stands for Marie Antoinette. But it is a solution for those with meat birds, not so much for folks that view chickens as pets.

Have you considered building some sort of cover over the entire thing to keep them off the lid?

 

[Peppercorngal]

I don't like that feeder. I like to use a 10 pound feeder that you can hang or just put right on the ground. The chickens can't scratch the feed our so none is wasted, and they can eat from the top or the bottom. It's light enough to carry to the shed and refill too. You can get big ones, 30 pound, but they are too heavy for me. They have NO moving parts and cannot hurt my birds.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I can assure you that people that buy those guillotine style feeders aren't spending all that money because they want to, they are spending that money to solve a rat problem or to prevent one, being responsible flock owners not wishing to give a city reasons to ban backyard birds. And yes most of us understand that not everyone can afford those kind of feeders but it is kinda like auto insurance. Those that can least afford it probably need it the most.

Even an imperfect feeder is better than a feeder that allows rats and wild birds to become a neighborhood problem. And it is just a matter of time before the rodents show up.

Just saying....

 

[PicketFarmer]

Actually, our rationale was to keep the food from getting wet in the pouring rain and chickens raking food out, but pests like rats and squirrels was a consideration (cockroaches still get into the feeder, but the chickens eat them up, making them a non-issue). Aside from the tray lid issue, it's worked out really well, so far; it's just a matter of training them not to stand on the tray lid while their sisters are eating.