chickenfun Posted September 23, 2009 Share Posted September 23, 2009 I have a problem with wild birds hanging around the eglu eating my hens pellets. The hens don't seem to mind but I do as it's costing a fortune feeding the wild bird population and I'm also concerned about viruses/bacteria being passed on to my hens from the wild birds. Does anyone have any solutions to keep the wild birds away? [*] [*] [*] [*] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jos Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 some people place the food containers under cover, say under a small childs play table, to discourage the birds; or hanging up strips of the sort of stuff people hang on back doors to discourage flies on the entrance to the chicken run. I have the same problem, especially bad in the spring, but I haven't had a huge amount of success with anything. On the positive side, my chickens don't appear to have picked up anything nasty from the birds. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 Ditto here. I'm finding I feed our local pheasant as well as the littlies. My hens are all ok as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 You could try a treadle feeder, a pedal platform operates a feed trough when the chicken stands on it - a wild bird is too light (but unfortuntely so are some as the small bantams) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 I have an ever growing gang of fat woodpigeons eating mine, keep meaning to get a treadle feeder but am worried that the pigeons are now as heavy as my chickens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 Pigeon pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peggotty Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 I feed lots of wild birds via a bird table and they have never shown any interest in the hens food or run. But I am not sure if this is because they are already full up from the bird table treats or I'm just lucky? BTW, the girls think that the bird table provides manna from heaven and they loiter underneath it hoping for messy eater crows to descend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky1 Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 Hi everyone, We had the same problem with small birds eating the layers ration. Whilst I didn't like the waste of food I was more concerned with the possibility of the wild birds bringing a disease to my gals. We installed one of these auto feeders two weeks ago. So far works great and the gals soon get used to it. http://www.parklandproducts.co.uk/page0.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 Wow, that's a serious piece of kit . Please tell me that's not your garden . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henriette Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 So how does the autofeeder work? If it's at all complicated, there is no way my little lot would be able to work it out. We are talking really basic here!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky1 Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 Sadly not Aint "Ooops, word censored!"ody Henreitta - pellets are released by knocking the yellow toggle at the bottom of the unit. You can adjust the height, so if you put it at its lowest about 9" off the ground and then put some pellets underneath one of them will knock the lever with her back. It doesn't take them long to twig the idea. They all seem to quite happily go up and knock the lever when they want a snack. Though at times of peak demand the one doing the knocking won't necessarily get the goodies. I throw a couple of handfuls on the ground when I let them out of the cube and they soon hoover these up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggregiousness Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 That looks brilliant to me! Is it huge though? How many chickens do you have? Would it work OK if only a small amount of food is put in? I'm not keen on the idea of putting a whole bag of food in because it would be in there for a long time before my girls could eat it all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henriette Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Thanks Chucky1 for the info. I must admit it sounds a very good idea, but like eggregiousness I wouldn't want to put too much feed out in one go as I only have 4 chickens to feed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky1 Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 Hi eggregiousness - we have 14 gals. The barrel of the feeder is plastic as is the lid and seals with one of those barrel lock things, so food in there will keep as well as in an open plastic bag. At the moment its about 20% full there's a funnel arrangement inside so that the food funnels down to the shoot waiting for the toggle to be nudged by the gals. Now and again I'll rattle it up for anything stuck on ledges etc. So if I haven't explained that too well there's about 5 Kg in it now and it works fine. As to the size and weight - I was expecting bigger and heavier considering it takes a 25Kg bag, but when it arrives it's quite light in the box with only the legs to fix on. Hi henriette - you could put in less than the full bag if you wished. I like them but they're probably not for everyone. We also had a problem with rogue sheep eating the layers ration, to the extent that they would bend the eglu weldmesh run to get to it - huge eggs though I'll try and put some pictures of the feeder up if I get a chance, which might give you a better perspective.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggregiousness Posted September 27, 2009 Share Posted September 27, 2009 I'll try and put some pictures of the feeder up if I get a chance, which might give you a better perspective.. Thanks - that's really helpful and, if you get the chance, photos would be great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henriette Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Thanks very much for all the useful information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky1 Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Hi everyone - I promised some pictures of the auto feeder to give a better perspective of its size. The feeder with a cube in the background From a different angle This is the inside of the feeder. There is little food left but it is still dispensing food. You can just about see a ledge where the food might get hooked up. Just before I sound like a rep for the company, there is an adjustment to the flow of food near the toggle end - fast, slow and off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henriette Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Hi How very kind. Thankyou. Lovely picture, lovely hens and lovely countryside!! The feeder certainly looks much less cumbersome than I had imagined. It certainly could be a possibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...