Messy chicks

[plantguy90]

Am having a problem with chicks knocking over the feeder every time its filled. Feed is now on the ground and they dont eat that as much. Am ready to glue the base to a piece of wood or something so they cant knock it down anymore... Any better ideas?

 

[Chicken Little Farmer]

How old are the chicks? and what kind of feeder do you have? My waterer usually gets tiiped over, but not my feeder......

 

[plantguy90]

Well, the ground isnt too level, but I tried to level it my moving dirt and using small gravel to level it. 7 silkies and 1 rir near 5 weeks, one 4-week old buff orpington. The feeder is that standard round metal one with the 8 holes on top, with the inverted plastic jar.

 

[fastpat]

When my chicks are coop age I'll suspend their water and feed containers from overhead hooks, that keeps them cleaner and they don't tip over. So far, I've only had to elevate the waterer so that it's higher above the wood chips, keeping the water trash free for quite a bit longer. The chicks like to scratch around in the wood chips, throwing them quite far, some of which ended up in their water. Now it takes about 6-8 hours to do what used to take about one hour.

 

[plantguy90]

Hmm, suspension would require that I drill into the feeder and run string through it. But the waterer...? Man I dont want to buy any more "equipment."

 

[crazyaboutchickens]

put 2 palm size rocks on each side of the feeder

 

[SkyWarrior]

Quote:
Sorry, Dude, you need a bigger feeder.

I have one of those for my little chicks and two 2 feet long ones for my bigger chicks. They're not that expensive (about $3-$5 each). That one feeder won't allow all the big chicks to feed and someone will get pushed out. When my big chicks are feeding on it, they take up about 2-3 slots. (I have four 6 week old Ameraucanas).

Save yourself the headache and pick up a long feeder for the chicks.

JMO.

 

[sben451]

I made hangers for the plastic chick waterers from the small chain used to hang flower baskets. You can make the hanger in about 10 minutes with some needlenose pliers. Someone else here on BYC did it and I decided to give it a try. Hanging the waterers is just about the only way to help keep trash out of the water for chicks. The only better thing I have tried is the watering nipples. I bought some of those from TekSupply and put two on the bottom of a gallon plastic vinegar jug and it works perfectly. No trash, no tipping over, and it only took my week old chicks about 5 minutes to learn to use it. Since then, I've made more for my pen where we keep hens with their chicks--the mama hens were always scratching pine shavings into the waterer, but now they all have clean water.

 

[Kmf]

I had the same problem and the WONDERFUL lady at our feed store who has had chickens for over 40 years suggested this for the food and water. It works really well. It took them a few minutes to try the food, but I raised it up in the bowl for about 10 minutes and they weren't afraid anymore so I lowered it back into the bowl and they went right for it! Hope this will help you! I just dump the bowl back into the jar and there isn't much waste (or wood shavings in it)