Waterer and feeder keep falling

[cluckkatie]

Hi all,

My waterer and feeder keep falling over because the chickens knock them over. I can't put it in the corner because in the middle of the run, so much poop has accumulated that it's like a mini hill ("hill" is quite an exaggeration, best word I can think of) and the corners are dunes. So, I guess my two questions are
a. How to keep the food and waterer from falling over
b. How to level out the ground in the run and prevent the poop hill from forming

Thanks guys!

 

[DobieLover]

Hi all,

My waterer and feeder keep falling over because the chickens knock them over. I can't put it in the corner because in the middle of the run, so much poop has accumulated that it's like a mini hill ("hill" is quite an exaggeration, best word I can think of) and the corners are dunes. So, I guess my two questions are
a. How to keep the food and waterer from falling over
b. How to level out the ground in the run and prevent the poop hill from forming

Thanks guys!

Can you post pictures of the coop, inside and out, and the feeder and water as they are in there now?

 

[cluckkatie]

Can you post pictures of the coop, inside and out, and the feeder and water as they are in there now?

It's dark outside where I live now, I could try to take a picture on flash though

 

[rosemarythyme]

Photos or links to the feeders/waterers?

One possibility is to suspend them, if they're the types that can be suspended. My waterer is suspended, my feeder stands on bricks and can get knocked over but it's pretty rare.

Also why is there a mountain of poop in the middle of the run? Sounds like a housekeeping issue, or is it a problem with the terrain? Photo of run and this problem area?

 

[cluckkatie]

Here's a picture from a couple months ago. Where the waterer is is where the dune is developing.. and in the center of the run is the poop mountain.. you can kind of already see the dune forming on the right side where the feeder is. It's a lot worse now

 

[ChickenLeg]

They need more room unless you move the coop to a different area everyday, thats the only way to stop the poop. You should get a hanging feeder and waterer that hangs from inside the coop, you'll never worry about it falling over again, also it works best if the feeder and waterer are closer to the height of the chickens shoulders. Cheers

 

[cluckkatie]

How would I make the feeder hanging? Or would I just have to buy a new one?

 

[rosemarythyme]

How many chickens do you have? Is that the only run space the chickens get? Or do they get outside access most of the day? Even if that's strictly for nighttime, since it's a small space, it will need to be cleaned more frequently. If you're getting to the point that poop is mounding up, it's past the point of needing to be cleaned out. If the chickens are stuck in there all day, you will probably need to clean a LOT, like every other day, to stay on top of it.

The waterer looks like it might have a hangar on top, and you can suspend it by running a chain from a support beam on top, if there's one available that can hold the weight. The feeder is a chick feeder and those are prone to being knocked over since they're so light, but if you get creative you can make something to hang it in and suspend it just like the waterer. Or consider making a PVC feeder/waterer since they're more space efficient.

 

[Mosey2003]

I see at least three chickens in there. They need much more room, or you need to clean the poop out daily. I don't care what those cheap pre-fab coops say on the box, but they aren't fit for nearly as many hens as they claim. Like stated above, you're using a chick feeder. You need to go back to the store and get a regular hanging feeder, otherwise they'll continue to knock that over.

 

[Birdsong 82]

Unfortunately I do not believe the prefab Koops our strong enough to hold up the weight of a feeder and waterEr. I have a prefab one similar to that inside of their larger one that I use to introduce small chickens or I use as kind of like an emergency hospital when one is sick. It was once used as a jail for two mean hens for a couple days. Either way those are not nearly as strong enough to hold the weight