Silkie with head stuck in feeder lip

[TrystInn]

Not sure what category to place this in, my apologies to any moderator who has to review this.

We use a hanging feeder in the bantam pen, the gravity fed type. Yesterday we found one of our Silkie with her head stuck sideways under the lip of the storage cylinder. Frankly, we thought she was dead, given the outer lip forced her neck into a zig-zag.

Thankfully, we're stubborn folks. So after carefully removing her head from the feeder, we brought her in and gave her palliative care: heat, sugar water and scrambled eggs. We left her inside overnight, tucked away safely in a laundry basket. This morning she's back to her old self. And the feeder has been removed.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of injury? I'm trying to figure out how dangerous this stupid feeder is or conversely, how stupid Silkies can be!

 

[ChickInDelight]

I was worried about the hanging feeders in my duckhouse. I must have put them at the wrong height. After filling one in the pouring rain, some of the food would not come out the bottom, so one of my young Chocolate Runner Ducks decided to try to eat out of the top where I pour the food.

I found him hanging the next morning. I was too late.

I rasied the feeder somewhat, but I cannot help wonder if this open top is a bad design.

 

[seminolewind]

That's awful! Thank god you caught it in time.

I had a silkie chick that got tangled up in mom's fur underneath. He could have been smothered or died from lack of water. What freaky things happen!

 

[TrystInn]

So sorry to hear about your duckling. I haven't used them in our duck pens because of that lip. I purchased the optional plastic cone to cover the top and to dissuade chickens from perching on the feeder. And we use a plastic coated dog tie out to hang it from, so there's no slack.

 

[Fiddlehead]

I lost my silkie chick due to the same occurance. Her head got stuck in between the pan and the other part. She died, it was too late. This is the SECOND time a chick has gotten its head stuck in these. I will no longer use them. So wish I could scream at the company that makes them, but I bet its pretty uncommon and they wouldn't care anyway.