Rat proof feeders??

[Big Doggie]

Has anyone tried the feeders that the chickens have to step on a platform and it open up? The rats are not Sutton be heavy enough to lift the protective lid.
I have rats for the first time and they are tough to eliminate.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Rat troubles here too. I tried the treadle feeder, but after training my chickens on it (where it’s partially open so they see the food before they step on it), I found they were terrified of the lid shutting and refused to use it. I rehomed the feeder and now take their food out of the run every night and put it back in the am

BTW, I wouldn’t put the food in the coop, bad enough having rats in the run!

 

[tlcmurphy]

Also, if you have bantam or serama chickens, I’ve heard they don’t weigh enough to operate the treadle

 

[Penpal]

I keep the feed either in metal garbage cans or in the house. Having feeding times for the chickens also helps. Leave the food for as long as they are eating, then pick it up.

 

[Chickie77]

Has anyone tried the feeders that the chickens have to step on a platform and it open up? The rats are not Sutton be heavy enough to lift the protective lid.
I have rats for the first time and they are tough to eliminate.

I have one and the rats know how to get inside, while my chickens can’t figure it out. I was leaving the lid up during the day for the chickens but closing it at night, and then in the morning I’d find a rat inside. Just great. I am at a loss for what to do about my rat situation, which is worse than ever this year. Ugh.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Rat troubles here too. I tried the treadle feeder, but after training my chickens on it (where it’s partially open so they see the food before they step on it), I found they were terrified of the lid shutting and refused to use it. I rehomed the feeder and now take their food out of the run every night and put it back in the am

BTW, I wouldn’t put the food in the coop, bad enough having rats in the run!

An old thread revived but it is still relevant.

This is the major flaw of the Chinese made Grandpa feeder and the other Chinese made clones, AKA guillotine style feeders. You have to leave the lid open for a few weeks because the lid goes up and over their head which is scary, but that pinning the lid up teaches the birds that the lid isn't supposed to move, then you move the bolts to let the lid move a little and the birds freak out.

Add to that, for safety reasons the lid HAS to be made super light or balanced to where it can easily be pushed open by mice. You can't pre load the door with a spring so there is enough tension on the door that mice, rats, ground squirrels, and full size tree rats can't use the feeder too.


And tickmurphy is spot on, bantams and silkies on their own usually cannot operate an actual rat proof treadle feeder due to them being too light and because they don't have the reach to stand on the required narrow and distant treadle and still reach the feed. You can tweak the tension on the door springs to balance the action to where a bantam or silkie can use it, along with a duck step, AKA bantam step, but you have severely limited the rat proofing features. However, bringing the feed in at night just teaches the rats and mice to eat during the day. The only sure way of knowing how much feed is being stolen is to measure the feed consumption and knowing that a quarter pound of feed per bird per day is normal.

Far better to have a few full size birds that can operate the feeder and get the soft close door feature and tweak it so there is a second or two of closing delay so the silky can get out of the way when the bigger bird steps off the treadle. Block off the side approaches with milk jugs of water or sand or some concrete blocks to force the birds to come in straight forward.

Chickee77, you say you have one, and I am assuming from the "I leave the door up.." comment that it is a Grandpa feeder or one of the other Chinese made clones. Sorry I don't have any advice for dealing with it, adding springs to pre load or adding weight to the lid would be dangerous with that kind of guillotine style lid. If it is a Grandpa feeder they do have a two year guarantee and if you bought it off Amazon that return window will probably be closed but you can find their contact info from their website for returns. They do work for a lot of people, usually the ones that bought the feeder before they had rodents so it helped delay the day when rodents found the feed. Leaving the door open during the required training does teach the rodents where the feed is, no fix for that.

But if by chance you have one of my ratproof chicken feeders and a rat is found inside you need to check that the spring or springs are in place and that they are set stiff enough to prevent rats from pushing the door open. If you have the old counterweight model the spring system has gone through several revisions to increase the adjustability of the spring. Originally it was pretty crude, stretching the spring with two pairs of pliers. Then we added a row of holes across the top front cover to vary the spring tension, a feature that some of our feeders in stock still have for alternate spring installation. Then we eliminated the counterweight system and doubled the springs, moving the springs up inside the front cover in a series of four sets of holes to vary the spring tension and get the tension directly on the door.

Then we switched to the current version where the spring is adjusted using a bolt and a couple of wrenches to provide infinite adjustment to allow fine tuning. You can even modify the older counterweight versions to the dual springs by asking for instructions on drilling the holes in the door and front of the feed tray and buying a pack of springs. You can even special order the new adjustable spring kit if you want more control over the spring tension.

So don't give up on treadle feeders. Lots of people fall for the marketing and commissioned sale driven "reviews" from the various sites that tout the Grandpa feeder and receive commissions from affiliate programs. But for a treadle feeder to work it HAS to have a spring pre loaded door, a narrow and distant treadle to stretch out the bird while it is eating (prevents raking and rodents piling on the treadle), and it should have an inward swinging door to eliminate the need to leave the feeder open for weeks during "training".