They keep spilling out their food!

[Gatorfreak]

My 3 and 4 week old chicks somehow keep getting most of their food out of the feeder and scattered all over (from scratching and pecking, it hasn't tipped over). Should I just keep filling it up or let them find it amongst the pine shavings?

 

[cafarmgirl]

That's pretty much what I did. They start getting bored around this age and digging all the food out and then scratching for it entertains them. I set my feeder on a flat piece of wood so we didn't loose quite so much into the shavings, only helped a little! Mine went into their coop at 5 weeks old and that behavior pretty much vanished once they had more room and more interesting things to do.

 

[cadeschicks]

I sat our feeder in the middle of a large frisbee, this catches most of what they sling out.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I was totally frustrated with that too! I finally tried sitting the feeder in a cake pan that has straight sides and it catches what they fling out t very well also. Then I just leave it until they eat most of it out of the pan. (They also make stainless steel puppy feeding pans that are about the size of a cake pan that you can get from TSC or a pet store. They are relatively shallow and have the straight sides. I got one for $4.99)

Our feed is a "mash" type feed that has a good amount of powder (fish meal, etc.) so when it gets down to the powdery stuff I will take that (which still has some of the coarser grain too) and mix in some milk (ours is raw) or whey (from cheesemaking or yogurt) and a bit of water and they usually eat it right up! They like that for a change.

 

[Izzymoon]

I used an upside down plastic dish that you buy meat in, and they seem to keep it on top, I had more of problem with water and finally flipped a colander over and placed it on top and they now stand on the floor and reach up and drink. I sprinkle grit on the floor to give them something to scratch around for. I also put them in a bigger brooder. They do get bored, sometimes silly things like plastic balls with a bell (for cats) and toss one in and they can chase it around, branches to jump around on etc. I STILL (at 1 month) give them gro-gel once a week, and they eat it like candy, and then I know they are full

 

[Indigosands]

I was given good advice by a friend on another board, always keep the feeder chest height with your birds as they age. So when they were about a week old, I put the feeder up on top of a overturned plastic planter tray. A week older, a shallow tupperware. I just keep moving it up higher on something the same size as the feeder so that they can't use it as a step. Works fantastic!

ETA, and to answer your other question, it's frustrating but keep it full. They should scratch for food, but not always.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Yep, raising the feeder a little will help with them scratching it out into the bedding - what we did, we had different sections of the brooder, and put the feeder and waterer in the part without any bedding. That way it'd be easy to clean up any spills and just toss it back into the feeder. However chicks DO love having a good scratch around. Anyway, it'll be fine if you leave it there, they'll find it eventually.

 

[mistydbowen]

I have the opposite problem. They won't stop getting the shavings inside the food dish. I wonder if raising it will help with that?

I think I'm going to go give them a cat jingle ball right now and see what they do

 

[Janay]

I've been having the same problems. I'll try putting the feeder on a dish of sorts to stop it from falling onto the floor. Their bedding has been paper towels, but today I'm switching to pine shavings.

 

[Reiner MacPhail]

My mother hen is taking care of newly hatched chicks. She is showing them how to forage, however she keeps filling the feed/waters with straw. How can I ensure, they are getting enough water and food?