Treadle hen feeder

kerryjack

Anyone using these thinking of investing in one of these as the hen coup looks like there is a fair bit activity going on around the feeder I have, they are several types and an 8 kg one there for 55 quid looks like the type that would suit me as I have 4 hens.

Gloomtastic!

Had a huge problem with starlings eating our chicken food. They’d go through a month’s worth of pellets in a week. Tried all sorts of deterrents but the only way that worked was getting a treadle.

It took a while for the chickens to understand what they had to do. I weighed-down the ramp with a stone initially but eventually they got the hang of it.

I keep the treadle off the ground on a platform of bricks so the hen scratchings won’t affect the ramp.

Stigura

Ye couldn't make this up! 😁 I barely get in here, at the moment. Simply too busy, elsewhere. Now, I pop in and what are we talking about? The very thing I've got my eye on too!

@kerryjack I assumed we were looking at the same site. Only, it's showing me Fifty for the 8. Fifty five for the twelve. I have five birds and was fancying the twelve, because I'm a lazy bastard and don't see any point in trudging out there any more often than I have to.

I chuck mine their mealworms, and eyeball their drinker, over the fence, every morning. But, going in there? Yeah. I reckon the chaffinches have found their feeder. It's just the way I find only dust left.

So; Did ye pull the trigger? I know it'd be early days yet. But, I'll be looking out for ye verdict 👍️

kerryjack

No not yet there is a DIY feeder a bucket with a lid and a small hole in the bottom with a kind off a bolt with a round head going through the whole with a kind of like a cork screw on the bottom and the hens peck the cork and that release some feed pellets. Looks really simple might try making that this week.

Stigura

Sounds like a variation on the Gamekeepers feeder theme. However; Gamekeepers also accept attracting, then having to deal with, vermin as part and parcel of their job. Don't know if this design would cause that ~ spillage?

But, I specifically fancy the chicken operated bin, because it's chicken operated. I have no problems with furred vermin, round here. Bloody birds though!

Christ! LOL! I Literally glanced out the window, having typed that? *Twenty Five Starlings*, sitting on the wires, directly over my pen!

Dunno. May have to take one for the team and try the tread box myself? Another fifty quid won't kill me, after what I've spent to get where I am 😬

TommieG90

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058317223/treadle-hen-feeder

Yes I bought one a few months ago, went for the 12 kg one, best move ever, a lot cleaner, less filling up, less robbing by the magpies definitely has reduced the amount of meal we feed!!they learn fairly quick how to use!

Stigura

Pulled the trigger on the 12, today, lads! Can't wait! 😁

kerryjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121292348#Comment_121292348

60 delivered is it let us know how it goes

Stigura

€63, Jack. From Mac 😉 (Have ye seen the mad disparities, on Major Toms?! Prices are all over the place!)

I've grabbed one of these 'V' feeders ~ packaged with a drinker. Toms. That's for my MEG's and they're kept in their own little set up. Contrary to the vibe of the reviews; They found the grub instantly. But, I still had to pull the baffle out. Because the pellets log jammed.

I imagine the birds, determinedly picking at the last few, visible amongst the food dust, would have continued to feed them, after a fashion? But, naah. Didn't fancy it. I want my birds to be able to Feed. Not struggle.

Drinker's okay though. Flat top. Great! Just stand it under the tap. Turn the tap on and do something else for a minute 🙂 Just a little thing. But, still a bonus.

It's like my main lot have one of those plastic 'Bell' feeders? Not so clever. Have to wrangle that in ye arm, while shovelling feed into it with ye free hand. Then, manage not to drop the lot when trying to spin the base on 🙄

I'm looking forward to just pouring grub straight into this treader. Like I do with the V. Every little helps; Especially when it's cold and miserable, eh?

Stigura

Arrived today! 😁 Christ, Tommie; Aren't they a bloody Unit of a thing, eh?! Industrial, compared to the sort of crap we're used to getting from China, these days! (Made in Holland, Jack)

Nice to find ye can set them according to the weight of birds ye expecting. Happily, I don't think the magpies will be able to trigger This bad boy though! Buggers have been hitting me, mob handed, all day! It's nothing to see Four of then, helping themselves to my pellets!

Slung some pellets in there. Put a brick on the edge of the treadle. Shall wait and see. My birds certainly weren't phased by the sudden appearance of a bloody great 'litter bin' in their environment. I think it rather looks the business, in honesty.

Bit of a 'Man of Wealth and Taste'. I Like decent gear 🙂 My boxes have Omlet doors. Now this 😎

kerryjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121318191#Comment_121318191

How are they getting on with it did it take long to get used to it, mine came today its a decent one alright, the only thing I can see that can go wrong is the bottom of feed tray is plastic and rats could make light work of it but time will tell

Stigura

Good, aren't they? 😁

Yeah; I left a rock on the corner of my treadle, for two days? Actually stood and watched the lead hen walk up and actively feed from it then.

Yesterday, I replaced that with a lighter rock. First one pretty much held it wide open. This one just sort of takes the strain.

I've just come back from there, actually. Went out to do my night rounds ~ ensure everyone's in and all's as it should be, like ye do. Thought I'd check on the rock. Was going to remove it. But, I realised the 'lid' is actually down, with it on there.

Could a decent rats weight open it now? Possibly. But, I have " The Ball " out there. The Ball is a single, growing chick. She's probably not as heavy as a full sized rat yet. I'm sort of dependent on her feeding alongside the lead hen, who happens to be her mother. So, they tend to stick together.

Rats gnawing the treadle? Always possible. In a world filled with chewable stuff, they'll still focus on stuff closest to food, of course. Almost makes ye wonder why they chose plastic? Surely a plate of galvy, drilled full of holes, would have done? Wonder if we could replace it with one, if it came to it?

All in all though? Thus far; Very happy! It's already just part of the scenery, out there. I don't particularly notice it, when I'm out there. It actually 'gets in the way' less than the round, bell feeder I had hanging beneath their box.

That was plastic, come to think of it. While I was finding it picked suspiciously clean of pellets, of a morning? Never any tooth marks 🤔 Rats? Or the magpies? I never did get bothered enough to put a trail cam out. No real point now.

kerryjack

Great job these for keeping a few hens have mine over a month now so works great, 4 hens here and the 12 KG lasts them 3 weeks have water drinker as well that last 3 weeks so you can practically forget about them just colect the eggs every day.