my chicks keep upsetting their feed ---- scrabbling to get into it and sure that another chick has a BETTER spot --- I need to design something that
1) will not get sand or dirt kicked into it
2) will allow all 7 of them at it at a time
3) will be easy to fill
4) won't allow them to perch on top
5) won't let them poo in it
6) won't allow them to knock it over
7) will catch the feed "billed out" before it gets on ground or sandy coop floor
guy who has banties, down at the UCBO, told me to get a 5 gallon bucket and a big deep frypan, cut holes in the bucket sides, put it in the frypan, put the whole shebang up on a block
however those ARE banties, not the LF like I have, with far too much energy --- lotsa chest bumping and flying tackles going on, no pecking so far
I'm keeping them coop-bound today, was reading that quite a few chicks in the middle-west were DYING because they got out in the rain and became hypothermic
I did solve the water container problem though --- DS had a couple of gallon-holding automatic dog waterers, that didn't work well for his lab/shepherd mix
(who prefers a big stainless steel bowl)
I put one of those on a big rubber-nubby Welcome mat, and the chicks have been pretty good about not standing in the water ....
while the mat seems to clean their feet fairly well as they approach the water
