Official BYC Poll: Which type of feeder do you use: gravity, treadle, or automatic?

[micstrachan]

I used to use a hanging feeder. But I think it was the first year that I integrated younger birds that I started putting little coop cups all around so they can feed in different areas in peace. I put the feed away each night because of rats. In the event, I have to go out of town for a while. Have somebody else look after the birds, I either put out a very large feet pan or a hanging feeder or both.

I do really like the idea of a gravity feeder, but would still need to cover it each night. And rats can easily chew through PVC, so I’d have to wrap it in hardware cloth or something.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Consider monitoring your feed use. If you are feeding more than a quarter pound of feed per bird per day, assuming grown hens, you are feeding more than chickens during the day. Adult rats rarely fear grown chickens and they are happy to eat during the day.

 

[User690263]

I use this one, though I will occasionally give them some food in a rubber horse grain bowl.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

I use the plastic version of the Little Giant feeder above. I bought the first one more than 20 years ago. BTW it's still in use, along with 4 others I've bought over the years. It's the only kind I've ever used. The hens don't spill the feed out of it and the rats and mice don't seem to bother it. It's their PHF11model

I'm not sure what you call this kind of feeder--I just know it works nicely.

 

[RennaeHanson]

I use one of these in their coop which they have access to at all times. I also have two hanging feeders that I will use sometimes but this holds 50 pounds of feed and that lasts them two to three weeks.

 

[fowltemptress]

I have these troughs spread out all over the property for use by all my birds: chickens, guineas, ducks, and geese. You can see it beneath this ravenous horde if you look closely. It doesn't protect from spills or wild birds, obviously, but I only put out as much as they'll eat in a day which diminishes both those issues. I wanted long troughs to limit my birds' ability to bully their flockmates away from the food. It worked.

 

[tripletfeb]

Our coop is painted to look like a barn so our feeder is made to look like a silo. It's on the outside of the coop and the food is on the inside, gravity fed. It holds about a weeks worth of food for 7 hens. I put their oyster shell in a dish that is attached to the side of their run

 

[BackyardinWales]

I use a hanging feeder for their pellets and a plate for anything else. Did try a 'rat proof' all metal feeder, but it turns out it wasn't rat/mouse proof at all, so went back to a cheap 1 ltr hanging feeder that I put out in the morning and bring in when I put the girls to bed.

 

[BackyardinWales]

I use the plastic version of the Little Giant feeder above. I bought the first one more than 20 years ago. BTW it's still in use, along with 4 others I've bought over the years. It's the only kind I've ever used. The hens don't spill the feed out of it and the rats and mice don't seem to bother it. It's their PHF11modelView attachment 4053761

I'm not sure what you call this kind of feeder--I just know it works nicely.

Similar to mine but I hang it in a piece of wood off the ground, so I call it a hanging feeder.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I use a hanging feeder for their pellets and a plate for anything else. Did try a 'rat proof' all metal feeder, but it turns out it wasn't rat/mouse proof at all, so went back to a cheap 1 ltr hanging feeder that I put out in the morning and bring in when I put the girls to bed.

If it was one of mine did you reach out for help? Something was wrong if it didn't work.

Your handle says "in wales" so probably not. No matter whose feeder it was some pictures might help figure out why it failed. Too much money spent for it not to work.

Is it this one in the picture?