The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: HesterF on February 06, 2014, 10:59:07 pm
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Mud, mud and more mud. So how do you keep your poultry food dry? For the chickens I have galvanised feeders with the overhung top & the pellets in those are still getting wet (which then blocks up the whole thing). I've also got some bowls under little field shelters and the rain is blowing sideways enough that that's getting wet too. For the ducks and geese, I've tried leaving the bowls inside their houses but they never go back inside during the day and haven't realised that's where their food is. I'm ending up pouring gallons of brown mix away - a delightful blend of soggy pellets, rain and mud. I've tried just feeding them less so they eat it quicker but I think they're ending up ravenous. The only food that can cope is the mixed grain - fine in water and the ducks and geese like dabbling for it. But not exactly balanced day in, day out.
What's the answer?
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Our chicken feeders are hanging inside the coops. This also stops wild birds helping themselves. We don't feed the ducks and geese except for corn in the evening so no pellets to get wet.
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Treadle feeders. They aren't cheap, but they mean you're never throwing food away and you have to refill them less often. Only takes a few days to train the hens.
Some options:
http://www.tasshop.co.uk/?searchStr=treadle (http://www.tasshop.co.uk/?searchStr=treadle)
http://grandpasfeeders.co.uk/ (http://grandpasfeeders.co.uk/)
http://shop.accidentalsmallholder.net/goto/wells_poultry/152/20kg-treadle-poultry-feeder/ (http://shop.accidentalsmallholder.net/goto/wells_poultry/152/20kg-treadle-poultry-feeder/)
HTH,
Dan
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Our ducks are fed inside, I cut a 4 pint plastic milk bottle in half and used a plastic pull tie to attach it to an old gate propped up in their barn (one for layers pellets/ barley another for treats)
If your shutting them in at night (with food) I'm sure they would soon learn where to go!
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I feed inside the coop for chickens, ducks and turkeys
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I use a pheasant feeder. if you get horizontal rain you have to keep the spring clear but it works better than any other feeder I've used-although haven't used a treadle.
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Mine still are scattered around the pen in the drier parts on the floor. There are quite a few so feeding from 1 or 2 troughs would cause trouble and really poaches the area, this way everyone gets to feed at the same time and I can scatter each day where it's dry-er. There's less wastage too as most is gone within an hour. They get some corn scattered around later in the day too in the same way.
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We built a porch to the outside coop and the food goes under there. We use a feeder with a rain lid as well. A friend has recently given us some old wooden slat bath mats which have proven good to stand the feeders on and helps to stop mud splashing in.
Our other run is half covered with corrugated opaque plastic so the feeder is fine undercover.
The rest of the runs are so bad with mud that I feel like a neglecting mother. We have put down wood chips which are disappearing quickly. And a neighbour getting a lleylandii chopped down has left it for us so all the leafy branches are being chopped and layered into the runs bit by bit.
This wet weather just seems endless. Would rather have frost and snow to give some relief to the mud bog .
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We use a down pipe with a cap on the top and a u bend at the bottom to feed from. It is attached to the outside of the coop which happens to be raised off the ground so the feeding hole is sheltered from the rain. This setup has greatly reduced wastage due to scratching food out onto the ground and because of the slippery sides of the pipe it is very hard for vermin to climb up and pinch any. Holds about 7 kgs of food.
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This wet weather just seems endless. Would rather have frost and snow to give some relief to the mud bog .
be careful what you wish for ..... if you check back I stated on here how dry in was in Wales the day before the rain started!!
:sunshine: :sunshine: :sunshine:
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Our feeders are under shelters. We have treadle feeders but I don't expect the chickens to use them in the rain and if they did the feed would get wet, so they remain in the boxes. We bought them to solve the problem of rats in the daytime. It can rain all day here so shelters are really the only option. They are about 4 square metres with an apex roof covered in reinforced plastic. Some are black and some clear and they choose which one according to the conditions -clear on a dark rainy day and black when the sun is too strong. There are hooks underneath which we hang the feeders on overnight.
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be careful what you wish for ..... if you check back I stated on here how dry in was in Wales the day before the rain started!!
:sunshine: :sunshine: :sunshine:
Oh, yeeees, I remember who started this curse now :-J :roflanim: :roflanim:
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Chris, any chance you could post some photos of your shelters? I'm reluctant to go down the treadle feeder route because they are really expensive and I chop and change combinations of pens so sometimes the various birds are mixed in together, sometimes not and all would require different settings on the treadles (e.g. geese would have to have them adapted, ducks and chickens are different weights). My dad made the field shelters we've got but they're wood covered so I don't think they'll last too well (despite the painting and preservation) and they're quite heavy despite not being as big as you describe (hence rain blowing under them).
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We have made shelters which are just a sheet of corrugated tin nailed onto 4 posts and about 2 feet high.
Although they may not look very nice they work well.
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Hi HesterF. Our shelters are quite light but low, so you can reach underneath but they don't blow over. They are a two person lift though because of the size. Never had one move yet in 4 years and if necessary you could hang weight from the top spar where the feeders hang. They pack flat, like everything I build, because of frequent transportation and they are very simple to make with little material wastage from standard lengths. I'll get some photos and post. I also have sketch dimensioned plans so that I can build more exactly the same or repair them if necessary. I think they look nice enough, but you wouldn't put one in your front garden.
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feeding wholegrains is an option til it dries up as they dont go mushy.
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Hi. Mine get layers pellets and corn put in a large galvanized feeder which has a skirt, kind of like a rain hat. This shuts down at night to keep feed dry and vermin out. Also they get pasta and veg or porridge with fruit before roosting. This is served in ice cream containers but never has chance to get wet as it's all gone in about 2 minutes!! I've been putting straw in the run to try to absorb some of the wet and raking out and changing every few days as needed. This seems to work well, and they enjoy scratching among the straw for bugs!!
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I've got the same feeders with a big hat but it's still getting wet - it just blows sideways!
Fortunately they're still mainly on grass except at the gateways where we muck it up so I'm lucky there. With the foul weather of the last couple of days, I've just been putting out the mixed grain. Hope they'll be OK on that for a while.
H