Keeping food in feeder?

[chickenluver555]

Hopefully this is the right section for this question
I have a few Easter Egger Hens, and I have been having to clean their coop more often than usual. For some reason they have been making such a mess with their food. Their feeder hangs, and I thought that would solve the problem. But, whenever I go out to check on them during the day their feeder is half empty, with most of their food on the ground. It creates such a mess and smells so bad! I don't know why they knock their food out of their feeder. How do I stop this? Please help.

 

[DStewart PDX]

Do you have rodents in the coop?

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Raise the feeder higher, and stop refilling it until they eat what gets spilled

 

[enola]

If the feed is smelling bad, you may have a moisture problem in your coop. Moist bedding or moist/spoiled feed is your chickens worst enemy. . .

 

[donrae]

Raise the feeder higher, and stop refilling it until they eat what gets spilled

this.

I agree, odor also sounds like a moisture problem. Dry feed doesn't smell bad, in the feeder or on the ground. Do you need to relocate your feeder?

 

[Janet Pesaturo]

Also maybe see if you can get a feeder with a grill. That largely prevents them from billing out the food.

 

[cackleberrycam]

I would give them each a half a cup of feed a day. When I do this my chickens do not spill as much feed as when I fill my feeder all the way up.

 

[jetdog]

Try making one of the bucket feeders, 5gallon bucket with two 90degree elbows you could put 3 but the idea is they can't fling the food out as they have to stick their heads in the elbow, put a little food on the edges of the elbow mine were eating in less than 5 minutes and it holds a month worth of food for my 4 girls.

 

[applegal]

Could they be getting rowdy in the coop and knocking the feeder around spilling the feed? I had some issues with water being spilled and realized it was a result of my mature roo chasing the new cockerel around the coop. Relocating the waterer helped.

 

[memphis]

Mine will scoop it out with their beaks & eat it off the ground. I raised it and that helped a bunch. Do check for moisture issues! I had half a bag go rancid because of moisture or condensation in my food bin. And boy it smelled!