Lock Down the Grandpa’s Feeder, the Boys Are Back in Town!

[Brucey1965]

Geez, all I have to worry about are 'bin chickens' getting into my feeder..

 

[tacosta1009]

@Farmgirl1878 Did you figure this out? I am having the SAME problem. I love my feeder, but I am losing too much expensive feed to the raccoon that visits every night!

 

[Farmgirl1878]

@Farmgirl1878 Did you figure this out? I am having the SAME problem. I love my feeder, but I am losing too much expensive feed to the raccoon that visits every night!

Hi @tacosta1009, the baby locks like you’d use on kitchen cabinets worked until I could fortify the run. Now only the smallest possums can get through the 2” by 4” fencing. Did you figure out how the coons are getting in at night? Post some pics of your set up and I’m sure you’ll get some great recommendations from others.

 

[tacosta1009]

Hi @tacosta1009, the baby locks like you’d use on kitchen cabinets worked until I could fortify the run. Now only the smallest possums can get through the 2” by 4” fencing. Did you figure out how the coons are getting in at night? Post some pics of your set up and I’m sure you’ll get some great recommendations from others.

@Farmgirl1878 , they're just stepping on the treadle, so I am definitely not making it hard for them. The chickens are more than protected in a fortress, but I have their feed under my deck on a wooden pallet. I did that because I kept reading it was bad to keep their feed in the coop! I will post a pic!

 

[Farmgirl1878]

@Farmgirl1878 , they're just stepping on the treadle, so I am definitely not making it hard for them. The chickens are more than protected in a fortress, but I have their feed under my deck on a wooden pallet. I did that because I kept reading it was bad to keep their feed in the coop! I will post a pic!

Gotcha! I keep the feeders in the run. My girls can’t free range because we are on a 150+ acre hardwood timber farm and have aaaaaaaallllllll the predators you could imagine and then some.

 

[lizo97]

I would put a hot-wire controlled by a timer around those little feeders. Have timer set for on roughly 30 minutes after dusk to about 30 minutes before dawn. Just a single wire about 4" high can be positioned so Raccoon get zapped when it steps on treadle. I bet wire be setup around only one side of feeder to work. When Raccoons probe my defenses they avoid areas in close proximity to the hotwire forming perimeter. They

@centrarchid Does this work for rats? I have been thinking of making an "unwelcome" mat to zap rats that come in to eat the food at night, but I have no idea how to wire it and put it on a timer.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

@centrarchid Does this work for rats? I have been thinking of making an "unwelcome" mat to zap rats that come in to eat the food at night, but I have no idea how to wire it and put it on a timer.

I’ve never seen rats around our property, but I’m pretty sure the website says it works.

 

[Loving my girls]

Really helpful as I am looking into a grandpas large treadle at the moment as local rats are going in through the little hen door to eat. This, in turn, scares my girls from going inside to eat. Thinking of putting the treadle outside to rub it in as far as the rats are concerned- a little bit of nah ninny nah nah !

 

[Loving my girls]

@centrarchid Does this work for rats? I have been thinking of making an "unwelcome" mat to zap rats that come in to eat the food at night, but I have no idea how to wire it and put it on a timer.

So rats get into your treadle feeder or am I misunderstanding?