Treadle feeder

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su2511
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Treadle feeder

Post by su2511 »

Hi all. I'm thinking about getting a treadle feeder to save me having to remove the feeder from their pen at night (to discourage rodents). Do you have to teach the hens how to use it? How have other members got on?

Thanks in advance for your time.

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Richard
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Re: Treadle feeder

Post by Richard »

Hi,

I think it's one of those things where the Chickens know where the feed is, so when they go toward it the 'lid' will pop up, so I doubt if any training as such would be needed.

Like most Animals and other creatures, their lives are centred around food !!

I know someone who has one and she's never mentioned any problems.

As far as Rats and Mice go, expect them still, they will sniff the feed out and do their utmost to try and force entry.

Good news is they usually vanish a bit at this time of the year.

Anyone else had any experience of them ?

Richard )t' )t'
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scbk
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Re: Treadle feeder

Post by scbk »

Have a search for "trigger happy chickens" feeder, I have one fitted to a bucket, and it works well for me :-D
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gardenergirl
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Re: Treadle feeder

Post by gardenergirl »

I have one and wouldn't be without it! I was feeding more jackdaws than chickens before I got it, and the treadle feeder I got worked perfectly. I put a brick on the treadle for a day or two until they got the hang of where the food was, and they had it sussed after that. Inevitably some food gets flicked out and goes under the treadle part, and the mice are quick to take advantage. There are a fair few mice about but I've never found them to cause any problems at all. It's a big metal feeder and they can't chew into it. And if the chooks catch a glimpse of them at all then they have to run fast!
techiebabe
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Re: Treadle feeder

Post by techiebabe »

Hiya,

I've got one for my 5 ex-batts. It works fine! The first week, I weighed it down with a stone, so they learnt where the food was. Then I stopped weighing it down and watched to make sure that each of them was confident to use it. At first the most confident hen would use it and the others would pile in when it opened, but within a short time (maybe an hour?) they'd all, individually, used it.

No problem at all.

I like it for being able to hold a lot of food, so I don't ever run out.

The only issue I had is that at first I used crumbles, and the hens still managed to dump a lot out. I've swapped to pellets now and hardly get any wastage at all.

And also, I use deep litter. I have put the feeder on a metal tray (just the body of it, not the bit they stand on) and this means it's always raised enough to operate. Otherwise it can sink into the litter and so it won't work properly when stepped on.

But as I said, it works great, my hens had no problems learning to use it, and I'm very glad I got it.
su2511
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Re: Treadle feeder

Post by su2511 »

Thank you for all your help!
ChickenJules
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Re: Treadle feeder

Post by ChickenJules »

We have a treddle feeder. Trained the chickens by just leaving a brick on the treddle for a few days (take it off at night) until they get used to where the food is. Then remove the brick. Ours managed well but the metal noise when they got off it took a while for them to get used to! All good now :)
Bluefinch
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Re: Treadle feeder

Post by Bluefinch »

These sound such a good idea but perhaps expensive for just two chickens. Will look into them though.
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Minxy
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Re: Treadle feeder

Post by Minxy »

Hi,

I've used these and they are great. To get my girls used to it though, I wedged it open for a day or two with a brick, just so that they knew where it was. I also made sure they saw what I was doing to open it. They worked it out very quickly. :)
"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

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