messy pullets

[drika]

I'm new to this and have just welcomed three 13 week pullets into their new home. I made their feeder from 9 centremetre PVC pipe.
Unfortunately most of the food ended on the floor. I raised the opening to about their back height with some but limited success and am concerned there PVC unit - the design copied I might add from this forum - cause too much food being spread in the wrong place.
Also the girls seem to prefer huddled together in a corner of the coop at night rather than going to the new beaut roost made for them.
Am I being concerned over nothing or is this normal?
All advice is appreciated.

 

[HEChicken]

It sounds pretty normal

Don't worry about the roosting. They will get it eventually. One day one of them will look up, think "THAT looks like a great place to sleep" and once she jumps up to it, the others will follow suit. As long as it is not too high for them to get up to (or so high they'll hurt themselves jumping down), you don't need to do anything except wait and let them figure it out. As for the food....that is the age long problem with chicken keeping. Many solutions have been tried and tested with varying degrees of success. The long and short is that chickens natural behavior is to scratch for their food, not to eat out of a feeder. My solution is to let them go to town but not refill the feeder until they've cleaned up everything that was spilled.

 

[wilsonfarm416]

Quote:
this is a great idea i didn't even think of that thanks HEChicken

drika-My chickens haven't figured out the roosting thing either and I was wondering the same thing.