Lots of wasted food

[MamaAB]

I am 100% sure this has been asked but I have one of the round feeders with a bottle on top. It seems as if my chicks eat alot but also I notice ALOT is on the floor. Probably as much as they eat if I am guessing. How can I make this stop? Not that I care they drop some of it but they are making a huge mess and wasting alot. Will this stop as they get bigger?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

The next time the feeder is empty, don't refill it until they clean up what's on the floor. When my chickens were eating dry crumbles, they would specifically look for the bigger bits of corn and flick the other stuff out of the feeder.
I do fermented feed now and they eat it all

 

[cafarmgirl]

It gets better, usually! Chicks in the brooder seem to be the worst about shoveling food out of the feeder, boredom may have something to do with it, I don't know. What I did was put the feeder on a large, flat piece of wood so the feed didn't get lost in the bedding. They usually ended eating most of it that way.

Mine still eat crumbles as adults and I have minimal waste. They are out in the pasture most of the day, so when they come in to eat they eat and leave again rather then spending time tossing food around. Chickens confined to a coop/run may spend more time entertaining themselves by sorting, and wasting, food out of the feeder.

 

[MamaAB]

Ahhh ok I got ya, I told my husband I felt like i needed to get them some toys to play with as they are soooo curious but he laughed at me and told me they didn't make chicken toys haha

 

[jeffmaggie]

This is something that I came up about a month ago to solve my anxiety regarding the epic waste of feed that is "normal" for chicken feeding. I was going through a large feeder every other day. Most of it ended up in the dirt, and the chickens didn't seem too eager to eat it. Rather, they'd act all hungry and trick me into filling the feeder.
So after months of seeing all this waste money fall on the floor and morph into dirt, I came up with this idea of a gravity feeder system. It's not only efficient because everything gets sent back up top, but it's incredibly clean too. Not a spec of feed on the floor. EVERYTHING goes into the collection receptacle.
It works via gravity. Place the source on top of a wire mesh screen floor, that sits over a funnel, which sits over a collection container.
I'm not trying to sell anything and I don't have any plans, just done from my head, but you will get the idea and be able to make your own. Please check out the link to several of my chicken videos on this topic. Thanks, Jeff
I've made 4 video variations so far.
DIY Zero Waste Bulk Gravity Chicken Feeder/Waterer Saves Money $$$

DIY "No-Waste" Gravity Chicken Feeder - SAVES $$$ MONEY

DIY ZERO-WASTE GRAVITY CHICKEN FEEDER!!!

DIY Bulk Gravity Chicken Feeder Recycles All Food - Zero Waste!!!