RentACoop chick feeder

[EarlJ]

Anyone use one of these?

I bought one for my Guinea keets because I figure their food is expensive enough it'd be nice to cut back on waste. Delivery is running late, though.

Curious what other people's experiences might be, whether I should get more or DIY another...

 

[MamaNoccy]

I haven't used these before but I've seen plenty of people use PVC pipe as an alternative, so it runs down like a chute. Like this and this . I plan on installing one of these when I build a larger coop to cut back on wastage myself.

 

[sealer39]

That should work well. Many people make their own using a 5 gallon bucket an 3” or 4” pvc street elbows. Same concept.

 

[EarlJ]

Yeah, I was going to do that for the adults, but I wasn't sure what kind of size would be appropriate for keets/juveniles. And I like how this can be switched around as they age up.

If I go the DIY route for another one of these, it'll be cool to have something to go by.

 

[NightingaleJen]

Sorry to semi-hijack the thread, but do the PVC feeders—the second photo, with the multiple holes in the pipe—work even for very young chicks? We began gathering chick supplies over the weekend (birds should be here in one month).

 

[EarlJ]

For the very young (less than a week), you'd probably want smaller holes... otherwise they might climb in, get stuck, panic, and die. I imagine you'd also have to occasionally shake the thing to move the feed along it's length.

For the first week, I just offer food in a small shallow dish. They don't go through enough at that point to worry much about the waste, and I'm monitoring them often so I can refill as needed.

If you can get one, a vertical nipple waterer is a great alternative to the typical jar-with-trough style waterers. They'll kick food and waste into those and that starts to stink. Just to be specific... vertical nipples are good for any age, but horizontal nipples are for older ones (horizontal ones are spring loaded, and require more pressure to release the water than a baby chick can muster).

 

[NightingaleJen]

Thanks, @EarlJ! We're already working on the vertical nipple waterer. We may even make two so I can take one back inside to scrub clean, immediately replacing it with the other.

Thank you for the tip about the feeder, too. I was worried about the size of those holes, with wee chicks eating from them!

 

[EarlJ]

First order ended up lost, second came today.
Keets are using it : D

The feeder is short enough I could use it in a brooder. I use plastic bins for the smaller guys, and a Guinea pig habitat as they get bigger. We had a few of those, but they all died eventually... and we got the habitats on sale for about $30. Use what you have : )

Didn't get the pictured guys started on nipple waterers young, and as jumpy as keets are I'm not sure showing them got through their panic at being held.

I've found a 23/64 bit works well for the screw in nipples. You could use 11/32, but you might need a wrench to get it tight.

 

[metarachel]

Do not shop with RentACoop! Honestly their feeders and waterers are great, but I can't in good conscience shop with a company that commits wage theft. They had a number of customer service jobs posted, and after FOUR separate straightforward attempts to get them to quote even the VAGUEST salary range, they utterly refused to answer at all points--even to suggest whether or not they were paying minimum wage or a livable wage or something in between. There are only two kinds of companies who refuse to answer this question, and they're both frankly evil: 1) One who knows their pay is so shoddy they're unwilling to release the information in public, and then force their employees to (illegally) sign an NDA stating they will never discuss their salaries with others; and 2) One who makes their employees ASK for a specific hourly rate, counting on the fact that people are so desperate for work that they will egregiously lowball their own worth for a hope of landing any work at all. This is a company that desperately wants and intends to pay its people as small a poverty wage as possible. And it's a shame because I love what they do. But I won't allow them to profit off the exploitation of low-wage labor; my money's going elsewhere.