WOW! Al Gerhart Feeders

[Carlena]

I’ve been a member on here for several years , and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I could change/train my Chickens to @Al Gerhart self feeders !!!
His advice was to “have Faith” , I got to thinking about that sentence and my middle name is “Hope” ,,, so I continued on and spent quality time with teaching my chickens about five times a day
The one I call ‘RED’ wanted to learn, but she was just unsure about my foot touching the pedal , after about 15 minutes , and while lifting up my foot, I would say “here you go” and stepped on the pedal
She would jump up there and eat until someone booted her off.
She went over to the other one, jumped right on it and was eating , same thing she got booted off. She would come back over to the other one and stand there and look at my foot , and again I would say “here you go” she was very attentive to my foot. SHE loved it. I just wanted to give her a great big hug! Now we have “Love”
The reason for this story is, I will now be the proud owner of 4 of these feeders and I will never look back !!!
Thank you Al so much for always answering my emails, looking at my pictures and videos and never giving up on me and my chickens
Faith, Hope and Love
Carlena

 

[Debbie292d]

An awesome testimonial! This is great to hear, as many have issues with rodents, and these feeders are one great way to combat them!

 

[Carlena]

An awesome testimonial! This is great to hear, as many have issues with rodents, and these feeders are one great way to combat them!

Yes for sure!
I wish I could add the video of “Red” when she was in training
How do I go about doing that?
Thanks
Carlena

 

[Debbie292d]

Yes for sure!
I wish I could add the video of “Red” when she was in training
How do I go about doing that?
Thanks
Carlena

You can either post it in YouTube first and copy the link here, or upload it to our gallery (tab up at the top) and copy the link here.

 

[Carlena]

You can either post it in YouTube first and copy the link here, or upload it to our gallery (tab up at the top) and copy the link here.

I emailed the video to @Al Gerhart maybe he can post it
Thanks

 

[RoyalChick]

I’ve been a member on here for several years , and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I could change/train my Chickens to @Al Gerhart self feeders !!!
His advice was to “have Faith” , I got to thinking about that sentence and my middle name is “Hope” ,,, so I continued on and spent quality time with teaching my chickens about five times a day
The one I call ‘RED’ wanted to learn, but she was just unsure about my foot touching the pedal , after about 15 minutes , and while lifting up my foot, I would say “here you go” and stepped on the pedal
She would jump up there and eat until someone booted her off.
She went over to the other one, jumped right on it and was eating , same thing she got booted off. She would come back over to the other one and stand there and look at my foot , and again I would say “here you go” she was very attentive to my foot. SHE loved it. I just wanted to give her a great big hug! Now we have “Love”
The reason for this story is, I will now be the proud owner of 4 of these feeders and I will never look back !!!
Thank you Al so much for always answering my emails, looking at my pictures and videos and never giving up on me and my chickens
Faith, Hope and Love
Carlena

I too am a big fan of Al’s feeders. Some of mine are more adept than others but they seem to teach each other.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I emailed the video to @Al Gerhart maybe he can post it
Thanks

Absolutely and thank you so much for sharing the video.

 

[Bawkbok]

Thanks for sharing the story and video. I am contemplating one of these feeders after the first of the year (budget constraints) as we recently have rat and mice visiting at night now. No matter that we bring the food in every night and I try my best to clean up whatever is laying on the ground but the rodents still come. Ugh.
My biggest concern is we have one chicken who I fear would never get time at the feeder as she is chased off from everywhere (lowest in hierarchy) so I guess I would need more than one.
Training is another issue but it sounds like it just takes a lot of time for the first several days to ensure they all gain an understanding as to how to use it.

Did you remove all other food sources when you weren't there so they were forced to use only this feeder?

 

[Al Gerhart]

Thanks for sharing the story and video. I am contemplating one of these feeders after the first of the year (budget constraints) as we recently have rat and mice visiting at night now. No matter that we bring the food in every night and I try my best to clean up whatever is laying on the ground but the rodents still come. Ugh.
My biggest concern is we have one chicken who I fear would never get time at the feeder as she is chased off from everywhere (lowest in hierarchy) so I guess I would need more than one.
Training is another issue but it sounds like it just takes a lot of time for the first several days to ensure they all gain an understanding as to how to use it.

Did you remove all other food sources when you weren't there so they were forced to use only this feeder?

Everyone's experience will be different on the time needed for training because it really is up to the temperament of the flock. The best source for an opinion is to hit the product page and read through the reviews, then google the name of the product and find the independent blogs that have reviewed the feeder. Some folks have hens using the feeder in minutes, others get a few hens using it and they train the rest. Blocking the side access with a couple of milk jugs filled with sand or dirt or using cement blocks helps. The soft close helps, and BTW, if you have one that isn't closing slowly, take the two screws loose and bring the entire soft close kit about a half inch forward, slightly sticking out past the front of the feeder, then re install the self drilling/self tapping screws.

Bullying.... no way to control that. You are correct that two feeders helps a lot. You can even put a partition around the feeder to get it out of view from much of the coop which can help.

And yes, you HAVE to remove ALL other food sources if you want to have successful training. No snacks, watch family members that might sneak food to the hens, no old feed in the deep litter, no free range, coop their fluffy butts up for a few days while training them.

Make sure to follow the directions to the very letter, nothing left out, nothing added. A solid base of three patio blocks is best and a solid attachment using the supplied cleat is needed because if it rocks and wiggles around the chickens will be afraid of using it. Make sure the treadle step bottoms out with the door fully open. Plenty of room in front of the treadle step for the hen to walk up and put one foot on the treadle step and make sure she can stand on the other leg in front of the treadle step. Three patio blocks, leveled out pretty much, is the best base.

 

[Bawkbok]

no old feed in the deep litter, no free range, coop their fluffy butts up for a few days while training them.

Thanks, Al. Your reply is very helpful - especially this part.

After the holidays are over, I'll have to devote serious time to cleaning out the deep litter as I'm sure there is feed inches down - which is probably what is attracting the rodents.

Then I'll have to figure out the best placement for two feeders and set up as you suggested, which means rearranging the junk in their run -- and we all know what kind of stress those changes will make --all of that at once on introduction means I'll be spending a huge investment of time with the chickens, especially if they're locked in for a week. I know there is not much I can do about bullying which seems to have taken a turn for the worse as of recently and I don't know why. With such a small flock (city constraints) the lowest in pecking order has all but become an outcast, not allowed in the group especially while foraging the yard. She sometimes puts herself in the coop during the day to isolate herself for safety. I'd be purchasing a second feeder just for her essentially.

I'll have to wait until I have more time and cooler weather - hopefully in January if we get the normal weather pattern here.
Any other suggestions you have for best approach is appreciated. Meanwhile, I'll do as suggested and check out the blogs and reviews. I know there are several people here who use your feeder and love it.