Pullet died - murdered by feeder!

[ScottyHOMEy]

Quote:
The gap on the feeder pictured is adjustable. I've always figured the adjustment was for the size/coarseness of what was being dispensed. With the pan in position closest to the bottom of the magazine, you'd be set for mash or crumbles. Middle position maybe for pellets, and the lowest for something maybe as large as some of the kibble-like feed for ducks.

To be honest, I'd never thought of the gap at the bottom being a hazard. It obviously is, and a hard-learned lesson; I can certainly feel for Fiddlehead.

If the bird was pecking that far into the gap to get at feed, I wonder if lowering the pan a notch or more might prevent such a threat in the future. It would serve both to allow the feed to drop and spread into the pan more easily, and provide a wider gap -- the advantages, if it's possible would be less need for the chicken to reach in that far in the first place, and provide a wider gap less apt to entrap the bird. The alternative, if it is set low already but the feed falls freely, would be to raise it to narrow the gap enough that the chicken could not get its head into it.

 

[zazouse]

I know it hurts when theses things happen

sometimes birds just find accidents.
I have 100's of free rangers and i find one every once in a while dead after being trapped in some way, last week it was a guinea upside down between my 2 conex boxes ,poor thing could not right itself and died right there

i feed my peafowl on top them boxes 3 times a day and never saw the poor guinea

.
Those boxes have been there 15 years never had and incident.

Was the feeder empty or almost empty?

 

[Fiddlehead]

Quote:
The feeder had some food in it, I'd say, 1/4 full. I had the feeder set so that the gap was at its widest. I purposefully do this because this freak accident happened before. There was food piled up inside about a quarter of the way up, it just never spread out into the pan. This has happended to me many times that the feeder has pellets, but they don't fall into the pan. I also googled it and found another person on here that had the same problem of their chicken getting its head caught. Thanks so much for your kindness. Sorry about your guinea

 

[mamabigbird]

So sorry for the tragic loss. I have one of those feeders too and will double check the gap for sure. I have it as wide open as possible for the pellets to drop through but there is usually a layer of pellet dust that clogs the bottom (I keep clearing it out but it fills up quickly) and prevents the pellets from freely falling into the pan. I can see how they would try to get their heads into the gap.

Perhaps someone else has a homey solution to the design problem.

 

[7L Farm]

I have this feeder as well but have SF. I left mine set like it came from the manufacturer think its on the bottom . Every once in a while I let the chickens eat all the feed in the feeder before I refill it. I really don't see how a chicken could get his head stuck in the feeder if set at the bottom. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Fiddlehead]

Quote:
I have silkies which are small fowl, and it was set on the bottom hole making the gap as wide as possible and her head still got stuck!

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Raise the feeders high enough that they can't get their whole head into the middle

 

[willowbranchfarm]

Awwwww I'm so sorry.

that's really sad.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[pattyhen]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I think I would contact the company too. They need to be aware of this. One loss is to many.


Pattyhen