Rhode Island keeps eating and wasting food all day long

[Themellowyellows]

Please either find her a new home, bring her into the house to live or get her friends! A chicken being alone for 3 years is torture! I understand you want to move away from owning chickens but this isnt fair to your hen!

 

[DerSchoeneBahnhof]

On the flip side, this Rhode Island breed is extremely aggressive toward unknown flock members. I tried to mix her with the 2 other chickens I sold and that was just a no go. She was already pinching their necks and causing bleeding in no time. Could the peepers have worked then? I dunno.

So yes, I am advertising it (for free), gonna be a tough one to give away if she doesn't produce eggs.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

On the flip side, this Rhode Island breed is extremely aggressive toward unknown flock members. I tried to mix her with the 2 other chickens I sold and that was just a no go. She was already pinching their necks and causing bleeding in no time. Could the peepers have worked then? I dunno.

So yes, I am advertising it (for free), gonna be a tough one to give away if she doesn't produce eggs.

You could always see if a family would be interested in getting her for free to process. I had a family that came a few years ago to take whatever I was getting rid of for their family to eat since they didn't buy meat from the stores

 

[angc11]

Yeah I would guess that your only possibility at this point is to market her as a free meat donation like @JacinLarkwell is talking about. I have a farm near me that accepts live chickens as donations that they then process and sell to their customers. It's cool because you can support a local farm and get rid of your unwanted bird if you can't cull her yourself. Maybe look and see if there's something like that near you. Good luck!

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

She is already tortured bc she has to live alone. Please don’t buy her pinless peepers. Solve her unhappiness. Please!

Give her to someone who loves an extra hen like yours.

I should clarify what I meant-the current situation of her being alone is awful. If she indeed is incredibly aggressive to any chicken she’s integrated with then perhaps peepers could aid in that. Peepers themselves are morally questionable but I’m thinking lesser of the evils in this situation. She needs to be with other chickens regardless and if that’s impossible in her current state, it’s worth trying

 

[Al Gerhart]

That sort of pvc elbow feeder has little in the way of protection from feed being billed out. Really though, one chicken, you don't need a treadle feeder. It would never pay for itself with just one chicken.

If you had a flock, yes, invest in a treadle feeder with full height walls on both sides, an internal lip extending into the feed hopper to prevent feed raking, and a distant and narrow treadle step forces hens to stretch out a bit and makes them less likely to want to stay at the feeder all day.

Pellets only? Nothing else mixed in with the pellets? Hens love to treasure hunt.

One possible fix for you. Cut a 4" square of 1/2" opening hardware cloth. Use something the same size as the interior of the pipe, a can or bottle will work. Cut the hardware cloth all around and bend it 90 degrees so you have a circular center with the extra hardware cloth able to hold the circle in place when you jam that sucker into the end of that open elbow. Make the hen peck one pellet at a time, impossible to rake with hardware cloth laying on top the feed.

 

[DerSchoeneBahnhof]

That sort of pvc elbow feeder has little in the way of protection from feed being billed out. Really though, one chicken, you don't need a treadle feeder. It would never pay for itself with just one chicken.

Well it's ABS plastic and the coop used to house 4 chickens. 2 of them died, one during a heat wave and another one starving herself after what appeared to be a toe infection. With the other chickens there was a bit of food wastage but it wasn't a real problem. I sold the remaining 2 and they seem to have found a nice place with 1/4 acre free range. Rhode Island was then transferred from her coop into the bigger one.

Excellent idea about the hardware cloth though! I will try that until I find a taker. There are some requests on Craigslist so cross fingers.

Local feed shop said it looks like she is bored and wants treats. They gave me a treat sampler bag.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Just do not put the treats in the feeder! More feed raking if you do.

Best of luck re homing her. You are a kind person to go to that much trouble.

 

[DerSchoeneBahnhof]

Alright, she has been re-homed today.