Squirrels eating feed. What feeder do I need?

[Sanderguy777]

I've seen Al's feeders, and Grandpa's feeders. That is really a lot of money for me at the moment.

Is there a DIY option that would be cheaper? $50 would be best.

 

[Debbie292d]

Can you just put your feeder in your coop? We have gobs of squirrels here and they never go in the coop.

The other option is to feed the squirrels away from the chicken feeder. You can buy a gunny sack of dried cobs of corn and toss a few cobs out. They like sunflower seeds too as they're always out there cleaning up underneath of our bird feeders.

 

[cavemanrich]

Consider making one of these. Maybe squirrels would not feel secure putting head into opening.

Just like mentioned in above post. I never have issues with squirrels eating chicken pellet's. I feed my squirrel pets BOSS
Hunger is a terrible thing to convince against.
I also feed my wild birds their own seeds.
I know that many peeps are in a Panic mode with the Avian Flu. It is not going to affect every last chicken on earth.
The large chicken farms that do sometimes encounter the flu,,,,,, their chickens do not ever see outdoors.
Having chickens for over 20+ years now. Have encountered some losses, but not to the flu.
Do your best,, and enjoy your flock.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Debbie292d]

Consider making one of these. Maybe squirrels would not feel secure putting head into opening.

Just like mentioned in above post. I never have issues with squirrels eating chicken pellet's. I feed my squirrel pets BOSS
Hunger is a terrible thing to convince against.
I also feed my wild birds their own seeds.
I know that many peeps are in a Panic mode with the Avian Flu. It is not going to affect every last chicken on earth.
The large chicken farms that do sometimes encounter the flu,,,,,, their chickens do not ever see outdoors.
Having chickens for over 20+ years now. Have encountered some losses, but not to the flu.
Do your best,, and enjoy your flock.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,

That's what we use x6. Maybe THAT'S why they never go in the coops, they can't get to the feed?

 

[Sanderguy777]

Can you just put your feeder in your coop? We have gobs of squirrels here and they never go in the coop.

The other option is to feed the squirrels away from the chicken feeder. You can buy a gunny sack of dried cobs of corn and toss a few cobs out. They like sunflower seeds too as they're always out there cleaning up underneath of our bird feeders.

I actually have a bag of sunflower seeds they love, but it's just attracted more LOL.

My coop is portable, so they can get under it easily. They can and do get in there, but other than startling the hens, they don't seem to do any physical harm. I am worried about disease and the like though.
(Btw, the only issue I had with that is one chicken breaking her neck somehow when I left it in the raised position. It was stupid on my part, but I have no idea what happened to the hen. She had a broken neck, but no blood or anything else.)

 

[Sanderguy777]

Consider making one of these. Maybe squirrels would not feel secure putting head into opening.

Just like mentioned in above post. I never have issues with squirrels eating chicken pellet's. I feed my squirrel pets BOSS
Hunger is a terrible thing to convince against.
I also feed my wild birds their own seeds.
I know that many peeps are in a Panic mode with the Avian Flu. It is not going to affect every last chicken on earth.
The large chicken farms that do sometimes encounter the flu,,,,,, their chickens do not ever see outdoors.
Having chickens for over 20+ years now. Have encountered some losses, but not to the flu.
Do your best,, and enjoy your flock.


WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,

I didn't want to try a bucket type because I thought it would end up getting chewed through or something, but I guess i can cross that bridge if it ever actually comes up.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I've seen Al's feeders, and Grandpa's feeders. That is really a lot of money for me at the moment.

Is there a DIY option that would be cheaper? $50 would be best.

Squirrels are tough to stop but our feeder will stop one or two at a time from the door pre load pressure from the springs. Over two, they will likely get in but will trap themselves and either smother themselves or block the feeder until you take them for a car ride.

The Grandpa feeder or one of the many copies also made in China, none of them are squirrel proof or even rat proof. The lid has to be either made very light or counter balanced to avoid killing too many hens. Even tiny ground squirrels can push the lid open and get inside.

But $50.00? You aren't going to find any feeder that is mouse proof much less squirrel proof at that price level. People don't realize that even an $100 product is going to have maybe $5 to $10 in profit. The rest goes to overhead, costs of goods, advertising, theft from customers through friendly fraud or credit card fraud. Not a lot of motivation to produce a product and put up with the hassle for small profits.

A $50 product will have $2.50 to $5.00 in net profit unless it is made in China. Might be a 20% profit if they are buying at $15 and making their money on high volume. Most of the cheap stuff you see on Tic Toc is some influencer making 5% commission off a Chinese product sold by a Chinese owned warehouse here in the U.S. . Those guys don't care about a retail profit, they want their wholesale price plus the sales costs and shipping costs. If you buy everything from China who is going to pay your wages or pay your pension or social security?

You are already paying for a feeder and will continue to pay unless you either fix the coop or kill off the squirrels.

 

[Sanderguy777]

Squirrels are tough to stop but our feeder will stop one or two at a time from the door pre load pressure from the springs. Over two, they will likely get in but will trap themselves and either smother themselves or block the feeder until you take them for a car ride.

The Grandpa feeder or one of the many copies also made in China, none of them are squirrel proof or even rat proof. The lid has to be either made very light or counter balanced to avoid killing too many hens. Even tiny ground squirrels can push the lid open and get inside.

But $50.00? You aren't going to find any feeder that is mouse proof much less squirrel proof at that price level. People don't realize that even an $100 product is going to have maybe $5 to $10 in profit. The rest goes to overhead, costs of goods, advertising, theft from customers through friendly fraud or credit card fraud. Not a lot of motivation to produce a product and put up with the hassle for small profits.

A $50 product will have $2.50 to $5.00 in net profit unless it is made in China. Might be a 20% profit if they are buying at $15 and making their money on high volume. Most of the cheap stuff you see on Tic Toc is some influencer making 5% commission off a Chinese product sold by a Chinese owned warehouse here in the U.S. . Those guys don't care about a retail profit, they want their wholesale price plus the sales costs and shipping costs. If you buy everything from China who is going to pay your wages or pay your pension or social security?

You are already paying for a feeder and will continue to pay unless you either fix the coop or kill off the squirrels.

I understand that, but i can't help that I don't have the liquid assets (or any other kind LOL) to get a nice feeder.

Literally anything will be better than my current feeding system (dumping the feed on the coop floor).

 

[Al Gerhart]

Is there a way to prop something up against the bottom of the chicken tractor to block the squirrels? In your situation, and we have all been there and might one day be there again, exclusion is the only affordable option for you.

Do you have the skills to make a wooden treadle feeder? Might take you a couple of days if you don't have a nice shop with tools but one could be hand made. Then deal with any chewing damage with patches of tin, even tin cans cut and flattened out.

You would have to make the lid quite heavy to prevent a squirrel from pushing it open, a bit more dangerous but all guillotine style feeders are inherently dangerous. The wood would (LOL) be prone to swelling when moisture was high so make the clearances pretty loose.