Would you use a dedicated feeder for kitchen scraps? (Design feedback wanted)

[saysfaa]

...

I'm trying to understand:

1. How do you currently feed scraps/fresh foods? (throw on ground, bowls, other?)

Things like a head of cabbage, radish plants that went to seed, dandelions, and whole oats - thrown on the ground. Partly to encourage natural behaviors like scratching, partly because the chickens pull them off any feeders anyway, partly because any feeder big enough to hold them even momentarily would take to much floor space, partly because these kinds of things are dry enough that dust and dirt don't stick much at all.

Things like meat, fish carcasses, tomatoes, and berries - in their food bowl.

1. What frustrates you most about your current method? (mess, pests, waste, time, chickens making a disaster?)

Nothing

Would you pay for a dedicated scraps feeder,

No

or is "good enough" good enough?

The above is good, not just "good enough". I'm not convinced a dedicated scraps feeder (of any design) is better.

1. If you would buy one, what's your honest price ceiling?

If I did think such a thing were needed, probably about $20. More than that and I would cobble something up instead... based in what I did when I needed a feeder, when I needed a water system, when I needed a heated water system.

1. What features would be make-or-break for you?
   • Rodent-proof?
   • Easy to clean?
   • Holds X days worth of scraps?
   • Weather protection?
   • Something else?

The space it takes. I worked really hard to give the chickens as much space as possible.

1. Urban/suburban vs rural? (Curious if needs differ by location)

Subdivision out in the country, I guess. A farmer split off a strip of land that was subdivided into half acre lots. There is a similar subdivision across the road but fields behind some of the houses, including ours. Between this and town is a similar mix of subdivisions and farms.

 

[Sally PB]

I need brutal honesty about whether this solves a real problem or if I'm solving something that doesn't need solving.

I see it as a problem that I can solve myself. If I saw an idea that made me say, AH HA! I probably wouldn't buy it, I'd think of how I could replicate it myself. If I couldn't do that, then I would consider buying it, if my need were great enough. How to serve scraps would not be such a need for me.

How do you currently feed scraps/fresh foods? (throw on ground, bowls, other?)

I either mix scraps with their current mash snack, or toss them on the ground. Mash is served in a pan and on the ground so that all the birds have access.

Your competition is usually an old baking tin which is easily cleaned and repurposed after being too worn or grungy from kitchen use.

This, exactly.

Al had excellent advice about the realities of making/selling something for feeding chickens.

 

[MROO]

Kitchen scraps go right on the ground. Chickens need "scratch tine." I'll sometimes hang larger items - like cabbage heads past their prime but not rotted. Whatever you "share," leave only as much as they'll eat by roosting time or remove excess. Leftover leftovers encourage unwanted guests - like rats.