making a mess and wasting the feed

[puddinbabe]

My 2 girls end up wasting half their crumbles by pulling it out of the feeder onto the ground. They go through a feeder that should last them 3-4 days in two because of the waste. I'm sure all chickens do this, but is there anything I can do to curb it? I hate wasting the food and I don't especially like cleaning it all up.

 

[Arklady]

You can try elevating the feeder off the ground. Like on a large brick. Then they have to balance themselves and can't devote much time to looking for the choicest bits of crumbles. How old are they?

Arklady

 

[NJfarmer]

The brick idea works. I put the food tray and the water can on bricks because my chickens would kick dirt into there water

 

[chickenlady]

Switch to pellets. You will see extremely little waste with pellets. Your food will last twice as long, guarenteed!!

 

[CtlisencedArborist]

Yup pellets elevated is the best way to save from wasting.Not much waste with pellets though.

 

[Chicki_Pooh]

I've tried putting my feeder & waterer on bricks also, but my chickens are defiant & just end up knocking the feeder onto the ground somehow & continue to scratch for their feed. Maybe I'll try the pellets this time.

 

[MoonGoddess]

We made a feeder with a large plastic lawn tub (the kind with the rope handles) that we cut slits in the bottom and 2 snow disks (one on the top of the tub and one below). It leaves just a little 3 1/2 inch space between the edge of the snow disk on the bottom and the plastic tub. They can't get in there and kick the crumbles around, so there is no waste. The kicking it out is where we had the most loss. We do the same thing with our waterer. We leave only a small space for them to drink from. They don't get as much dirt in it that way.

 

[nccatnip]

I hung mine from a chain with a clip on the handle of the feeder. Hang it about chest high and you should see a reduction in waste. Also hung the waterers the same way, keeps them lots cleaner as no one can roost on them.

 

[MoonGoddess]

Quote:
Do you have a picture of that nccatnip? That sounds interesting.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I put a larger pan around the bottom of my feeder. The hope is that when they pull the pellets out of the feeder they will land in the second pan. Of course that sometimes fills up and then they pull out of that, but I think it still significantly helps.

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/chicken-automatic-waterer-feeder.php