4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Mumpty]

Do you need to empty out the grub at night if there is any food left or can I leave it for the next day. I'm confident other animals can't get to it, but will it go off or get damp? Should it be replaced each day? And how long does it take for the birds to learn how to use the glug with the drip feeders? They haven't looked at it yet.

Anyone with any advice? Please

Edited September 16, 2008 by Guest

[Steve.]

I leave mine in there, actually two of them. I fill them up when they have both been scoffed (or nearly scoffed).

 

Mine learnt the glug themselves ---- some say tapping with a bamboo stick from the outside helps them undestand how to work it. Once one is drinking, the rest soon catch on.

 

Good luck!

[GreenGirl]

I showed mine how to use the superglug by tapping the little nipple things with the peg from the door, so they could see the water coming out. I kept doing it until they continued pecking it themselves, took about 15mins on their first day

[Egluntyne]

I leave the food out at night, and don't throw uneaten stuff away.

 

Every so often I mix the dregs in the grub with warm water and give it to them as a porridge. They love it.

[eggypeggy]

Agree with all above, you definately don't need to replace food everyday.. Just top it up when it's nearly empty. When I give my girls a good clean out, I clean out whatever food is in there and then start from fresh again.

[Mumpty]

Thanks, that helps. Tried tapping the nipple things and one was interested and came over and had a peck. I'll try again tomorrow with the others and spend a bit mlore time training them!

[Janty]

I never bring the food in at night. it would take too long to bring all the grubs in.

[stephyblue]

We had been leaving the food out overnight but then today I saw a big furry brown rat running around the garden in broad daylight! I rang the council who have a free domestic rat catching service and we were advised to always bring the food in at night. I HATE RATS

[Janty]

Our cats may be scared of the hens but they won't let anything else into the garden so we have never had a problem with mice or rats. Even fat Sausage is a killer when it comes to vermin.

[Gallina]

In an ideal world, it's best to bring the food in at night: it stays nice and dry, the slugs don't crawl in, and it doesn't attract rats.

 

But if you have stopped rats from getting into the run by putting slabs around the edge, no real harm is done by leaving it out.

 

Now that I have three runs and six feeders, it is too much trouble to bring them all in every night.

 

I bring just two feeders in from one run each night now, which means the food in the runs gets refreshed every three days. The old stuff gets tipped into a jug until I have enough for porridge.