What waste? Small rant.

[G Wiz Ranch]

I don't understand what people are referring to when they say that their chickens "waste" food from scratching it out of the feeder? Where does it go?

I mean, mine will get a little on the ground but they eventually eat that too. I don't refill the feeders until they eat what they spilled. No waste. Are you filling the feeder constantly so they never "need" to eat what they spill? I have 150 pullets in one run and I have 3 30lb feeders. I have to fill them every 2-3 days. If there is still a little food in the feeder and some on the ground in the morning, I don't fill them until the evening, giving them all day to finish off the feed and pick up their mess. By the time I fill the feeder, there is nothing on the ground. In my main layers coop, the feed troughs are wood and they waste little due to the way I built them, but if I overfill the feeder, it will spill out onto the ground bellow the coop. When they are outside they still eat what was spilled, so no waste.

So, why do people say they have waste? Why don't the chickens eat what they spill? Am I missing something?

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Certainly my chickens will eat most of what they spill. But I find that pellets are easier than tiny crumbles for them to retrieve from the ground. Therefore it seems to me that there is less food gone to waste.

 

[sillybirds]

Maybe this "feed waste" issue applies to individuals who keep their feeder in the coop and use the DLM. I found, before I made my current feeder, that the chickens would beak out crumbles into the deep litter. I know they weren't finding and eating all of the spilled feed, as I'd find uneaten crumbles in the litter when I cleaned the coop. (I understand that pellets are supposed to be less wasteful in that regard, but with my current feeder it's a nonissue.)

 

[sonew123]

hmmm..I guess I will make them eat what they spill-I use medicated chick food which is very powdery and little crumbles they spill it everywhere! The feeder empties out and theres a ton all over aorund the feeder. So I refill the feeder 2-3 x a day-not anymore. Thats where the waste was coming from-I do feed grower pellets and grower layer pellets when they are of age but Im kinda picky about giving medicated food-I never have had Cocci-and never want it!

 

[Wifezilla]

I have deep litter in my duck pen. The ducks root around in the litter and get whatever gets spilled.

 

[ebonyann]

My feeder is a 3 gallon bucket with 4 holes drilled in it about halfway up using a door knob drill attachment. They have to stick their heads in the holes to get their food, but there is no possible way for them to get their feet in there to scratch it out. The only time a little gets spilled is when they decide to bring there head out and head for the waterer with food still in their mouth, but that is cleaned up by the time I fill again.

 

[funkychicken]

What a beautiful little angel!! Congrats!!

 

[sparkles2307]

We use DLM and crumbles. My pullets are a month old and I let the feeder go empty because they spill SO much. But even with DLM you can see where they move the litter around and get the the floor to pick up all the leftovers. They are always happy and busy scratching away in there. We have very little waste. The ducks waste more than the chooks.

 

[G Wiz Ranch]

So, it looks like when people say they have waist, it may be because they are re-filling the feeder and not "forcing" the birds to eat what is spilled. I personally use the crumbles because they are always in stock at the feed store, where the pellets are SO only. For the chickens, I try to keep the feeders full unless I see some on the ground, then I wait a couple hours. For my 20 ducks, I feed them only enough that the food is gone in 15-20 minutes, this makes it easier to get them back into their run at night.

 

[exop]

Quote:
Ebonyann, that is brilliant. It took me a minute to picture how it would work, wow, very ingenious. I may make one of my own. What do you put on the top to keep the rain out?

Best - exop