wall feeder

[kimbymarie]

Hello all, My questions are: Is there a reason chicken feeders are round? Must they be? Do they all need to be eating at the same time? I was thinking to avoid a mess in their food, could you hang up a wooden or plastic 12-15 inch long by 2 inches wide feeder attached to the wall of coop. I notice that my chicks poop on their food at times and fly up and sit on the top of the circular feeder, even when raised above floor of brooder. I'm moving them out soon to their new coop and I was thinking that it may be a good way to keep their food clean and give more floor space. Thank you.

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[TN_BIRD]

IMHO the feeders can be any shape you want, but round feeders prevent feed from getting stuck in a corner. I've seen square ones.

Regarding the roosting issue, some folks will but stuff on the top of the feeders to discourage that (funnels, sticks, rollers, etc.)

 

[redstars]

I just used a section of rain gutter I had leftover with a end on each side attached to the wall.
It works just fine and best of all it was free.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

We use round feeders for regular feed but here is a picture of a feeder we use in all our coops to feed grit and oyster shell.

More pictures on My Page and my Barn/Coop page, links in my sig.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Mostly the round shape is to provide the maximum number of birds to eat at one time, as the birds can approach from 360 degrees. The same principle should apply to trough feeders. Chickens get very competitive about eating and some chickens, low on the pecking order, can get shoved out of the cafeteria line by more aggressive birds. Having adequate feeder space is important.

 

[kimbymarie]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Very much appreciated.