thelurch Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Hi everyone, Since we recently added 4 new hens to the existing 3, we were prepared to go through feed quicker, but in the last 10 days we have gone through 20kg of feed! Having both been working all day and not been able to sit and observe, today I sat and watched after filling the 4 grubs we have mounted on ikea kroken rails. The new hens stick their heads in and eat, and seem to dig to the bottom of the feed and flick loads out with each movement, on purpose it seems. I have only ever filled the grubs to a minimum of 1 inch from the opening of the grub ie the feed level is never level with the lip. The old hens dont and never have done this. The aubiose in the immediate area of the feeders is 90% mash! Obviously this cannot continue but what to do, I bought 2 new grubs when we got the new hens. Today I got the unused super glug out of the shed and fixed that to the rail quite low down, that holds quite a lot of feed and as the hens have to peck from above and the walls of the glug help to stop the feed being flicked out. Tomorrow I am going to buy pellets to see if that helps in the grubs, if not then buying a couple more super glugs might be the solution. I have looked at other feeders and wouldnt want a round one as it takes up too much space. The treadle option I assume would have the same problem (like the troughs) and they are very expensive So does anyone else use grubs and mash and have very wasteful hens or have a solution? All the feeders are in a covered WIR and on a wall which is protected from the weather totally, and we dont have vermi problems either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chestnutmare Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Sorry only scanned thorugh your post but mine sometimes get the food on the floor which isn't usually an issue for me as it's only a little and they later eat what they've tipped. When I put a lot less in the grub and top it up daily which makes it more difficult to spill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Hanging the grubs higher so they have to crane their heads up over the edge will help Remove the Grubs if there is a lot of feed on the ground and hopefully they will clean up the ground a bit Glugs may work better if you can keep the rain off them Pellets should improve things though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweety Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 I found that changing from mash to pellets has made a huge difference to the amount of waste/spillage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelurch Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 Thanks for replies, buying pellets today and will see how it goes. Then next step will be to raise the grubs up, hopefully that should sort it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 It might be an idea to gradually add the pellets to the mash, so they get used to them. A scoop first of all, then add more pellets over a few days, until they get used to the pellets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thelurch Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 They have both been on pellets before, the new lot were on them before I bought them and that was in August so hopefully it should be ok as I don't have any mash left! as it's mostly on the floor of the run! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splodge88 Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 We have pellets...there is one trouble-maker who deliberatly spills them everywhere...no helpful advice here sorry to be of no use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
