[BML]

What do you want to do ?CopyI have two feeders and neither of them are that effective. The first is a round container that is supposed to fill the feeding ring as its emptied but I have to give it a good shaking every day and the other is a metal device which opens when a chicken stands on it, the problem with that one is the chickens cuck the feed everywhere so I'm looking for advice on something better than what I have. Advice will be welcome.

[Kiran]

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I modified a design of one I saw on YouTube. I've got a 10L bucket suspended from a gallows frame. The bottom of the bucket has 3 holes drilled in it. Each hole has an eye bolt through it (so the eye remains inside the bucket) and at the other end I trapped an electrical conduit joint between 2 nuts. The chickens have to pack the conduit to cause the layers pellets to release. It seems to keep them occupied, there's no wastage and it's also rodent proof.

[Womble]

That's interesting Kiran, I also made a feeder which uses the same principle, but although it worked perfectly, the hens decided they preferred pecking at the trigger to actually eating the food that fell down, so I had to abandon it in the end because it actually increased waste.


BML - our hens also used to flip food everywhere from a standard feeder, so I laced copper wire to achieve the same effect as the 'anti-waste ring' on this feeder, and that solved the problem:

[Kiran]

Mine picked it up quite quickly, not sure if this is any different to what you built but they pack and pick up what drops on the floor.

Did you use cork by any chance? I read that they enjoyed pecking the cork which is why I used conduit joints.