my feeder is raised high enough..... I have it at the height that I use for my adult birds, since the chicks can reach it and I'm feeding all flock now instead of layer pellets. They still make a mess.
But, the real mess is where I'm rehabbing my blind chick. She kind of waves her beak back and forth until she bumps into something, then takes a peck. So, her crumble is in a saucer on the floor of her cage and her water is in the other corner of the cage. To help her find it, I put a dish of food/water on the outside of her cage with the same thing so she'll hear the others pecking and go over and start pecking herself. My goal is for her to hear them and follow, hoping to eventually get her out of her cage and into the yard.
That seems to be working, but they all sweep it out of the bowls now and tend to stand in the water. I know I won't stop all of this until she learns, then I can raise the dishes a bit every so often. She'll perch on the edges and poop in them. The water is already raised up enough that she doesn't perch on it anymore.
My rehab is going well. She spent a couple hours outside yesterday in a playpen so she could be on the grass, but spent most of her time standing in the water (it's very hot here). Then, the last 2 nights, one of the chicks has spent the night just outside her cage, so last night I put him in with her so they could snuggle. I"m hoping someone becomes a guide bird for her. She's a buff orpington pullet and I have 4 more bo's. They all look like they would do the job. The one sleeping with her is an egyptian fayoume cockerel who I'm trying to rehome since he's a beautiful bird and I don't need another boy, but being a good friend to her would cause me to keep him.
