Question about feeders

[Mightypug311]

Might be a silly question, but... I seem to fill the feeder every night. It's empty by the next afternoon. Most of the crumbles are on the floor of the brooder box. Will they eat the crumbles on the floor or should I keep filling the feeder? If I don't fill it, will they be FORCED to eat the crumbles on the floor? I'm going through A LOT of food for 6 little chicks.

They are currently 4 weeks old, I will be ordering the waste-less feeder after they turn 6 weeks old.

 

[CannedMonster]

Might be a silly question, but... I seem to fill the feeder every night. It's empty by the next afternoon. Most of the crumbles are on the floor of the brooder box. Will they eat the crumbles on the floor or should I keep filling the feeder? If I don't fill it, will they be FORCED to eat the crumbles on the floor? I'm going through A LOT of food for 6 little chicks.

They are currently 4 weeks old, I will be ordering the waste-less feeder after they turn 6 weeks old.

I’ve had the same problem.
When mine were little I had to lift their feeder up on a wood block so they couldn’t try to scratch in it.
But they’d still bill through the feed and cause spills.
I’ve found that some feeders work better than others in terms of waste.
The galvanized feeder I have becomes a mess if I fill it full.
I’ve learned to only fill it about 1/4 full and it works out fine.
I also have a red & white round plastic feeder with “slots” all around the bottom.
That one makes a huge mess with chicks so I just use it with my older birds and it’s fine.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Chicks make a mess as they love trying to scratch their feed everywhere. With my first chicks I think I had to throw away about half their food just from waste. My current chicks are on fermented feed in the morning, which is far less messy since they can't actually scratch it out, and then as far as the dry feed, I leave it to my hens to clean up. They do a far better job than I can!

It is safe to let them eat the spilled crumble off the floor as long as it's not moldy and it's clean (not covered in poop). If either is in doubt, scoop it and toss it.