chicken feeder No spill!

[swampratt]

I purchased a few different chicken feeders the open trough , the round hanging with small holes in it.
The hanging with open areas.
The chickens would get the feed out of all of them and toss the feed to the ground. just like any bird it wants to sort through the feed looking for something different in there.

Sometimes they would reach their feet up there and rake it or shake it out.
Kind of made me mad.. stupid birds making a mess and food in the poop eventually.

I figured it out about a year ago, I took a 3x3 foot piece of plywood set it flat on the ground in the coop and took a steel coffee can and screwed it to the plywood..I pour the feed into the coffee can.

Birds must reach their necks deep into the can to get the feed out.
No digging or shaking/flinging it out either.
I can fill 2 cans and leave for a week and my chickens still have some feed left when i get back.

They can eat it right to the bottom.
If you feed scrap food you can put it in the can also.
Lot less messy.

 

[MacFromOK]

Not a bad idea.

We used the hanging feeders and just hung 'em high enough they couldn't scratch the feed out. They'd still waste some pecking at it though.

 

[rickm]

We always used 2 open feeders with the storage bins on them that would hold 100#s at a time each and filled them every other day.

 

[Gunbuffer]

enough birds and nothing stays on the ground long enough to get wasted.

 

[Annie]

It's not the chickens I have trouble with it's the ducks. I'm about to do some finagling tomorrow. Those little bastards have turned their feeder over for the last time. ​

 

[Gunbuffer]

@#$% A DUCK

 

[MacFromOK]

Lol, ducks are a feathered version of pigs...

 

[dennishoddy]

We always just threw the feed on the ground and let them go after it, but it wasn't urban chickens. Ours were free range.
I think my parents were glad when the predators picked off the last one though and never bought any more.
The wild turkey leave enough mess around our yard now that we don't want anything else.

 

[Annie]

Lol, ducks are a feathered version of pigs...

Ha! That they are if they are in too small an enclosure. And these guys are. Weather is really cramping my style. I NEED for it to warm up so I can move everyone around to their permanent digs ... and finish my raised beds.

 

[Powerman620]

We always just threw the feed on the ground and let them go after it, but it wasn't urban chickens. Ours were free range.
I think my parents were glad when the predators picked off the last one though and never bought any more.
The wild turkey leave enough mess around our yard now that we don't want anything else.

Them birds spread all kinds of bad germs and such. I will come get him out for you with my 12 gauge. Just helping you out a little, lol.