Messy eaters

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Messy eaters

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wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 16 11:06 am Post subject: Messy eaters

All of my chickens are horribly messy eaters. The last lot weren't too bad (except the pekins, and the large fowl would come up to their pen and clean up after them) but this lot are awful. They spread their food all over the floor, and then won't eat it once it's spread around, even if I don't give them any more. They do pick out the bits they like to some extent, but they still did it even when I put them on homogenous pellets (I prefer not to feed them pellets of imported soya). They all free range for most of the day and otherwise spoilt rotten. They do this with all the feeders I have. I don't like the waste, but mostly I'm worried about rats.

Ideas on a postcard?

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46188
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 16 11:40 am Post subject:
treadle feeder, hen stands on platform ,flap opens,feed from hopper drops to beak level as hen pecks what it can see. not perfect but far less messy ,wasteful and rat friendly than open feeders. ps it took mine about 5 mins to work out how to get dinner out of the big metal thing

mousjoos

Joined: 05 Jun 2006
Posts: 1986
Location: VERY Sunny SW France

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 16 12:45 pm Post subject: Re: Messy eaters

wellington womble wrote:

Ideas on a postcard?

Casserole or in a basket...

Woo

Joined: 19 Sep 2011
Posts: 787
Location: Mayenne, Pays de Loire

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 16 5:45 pm Post subject:
why don't they eat what you give them? Mine are all over the food and don't leave till the last crumb is gone. then they start on the wildlife. are you feeding them too much? or am I being too mean?

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 16 6:50 pm Post subject:
I was fed up with my lot scattering their food everywhere so bought some of these. Result - much less feed waste although my big meat birds kept tipping it over so I had to secure it with a couple of logs.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 16 9:48 pm Post subject:

Woo wrote:

why don't they eat what you give them? Mine are all over the food and don't leave till the last crumb is gone. then they start on the wildlife.
are you feeding them too much? or am I being too mean?

They are spoilt rotten with free ranging over a couple of acres during the day and by my fussy eater six year old (they get her crusts and leftover porridge and milk!) but I can't get down there to feed them until after the school run, and I need to put them away before bedtime at about 7pm. So they need food in their run for all the daylight time outside of that. I've always fed all my hens as much as they like, and they've all done well on it. It's only this lot (and the previous Pekins) that have been so messy!

Treadle feeders are not cheap! What's to stop them treading and spreading anyway, though?

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 16 9:49 pm Post subject: Re: Messy eaters

mousjoos wrote:

wellington womble wrote:

Ideas on a postcard?

Casserole or in a basket...

Wouldn't get many eggs, then! Two are going ovenwards in a couple of weeks, though.

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