Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[heth1986]

As per the title really, my chooks are climbing all over their food / water dispensers and tipping them over, covering the floor in pellets and soaking them as they go, leaving the run in a fine mushy mess... not to mention their feet!!!

 

So I'm contemplating one that attached to the side instead BUT I'm not the proud owner of and Eglu the wire on my wooden coop has rectangular holes, about an inch x 1/2 inch (ish)? Would a glug / grub work okay?

 

Thanks in advance!

[The Dogmother]

No, they wouldn't fit, but Omlet do sell a free-standing stand for them.

[jackian]

I have a stand from omlet for mine and it works really well.you can get two food grubs on one stand.

I also stand the stand inside a seed tray so there is very little spillage...But why when there are 2 holes to eat out of in the grub do they all want to stick their heads in the same hole

[heth1986]

Lol, they're ridiculous aren't they?!

 

How big are the clips roughly? I'm wondering if I could make the holes in the wire a tad bigger, it's quite stiff wire so would be strong enough to hold it. If not I might just try with one of the stands then, although I'm sure that they could flip it over between them!

[The Dogmother]

I think you might find that chicken wire is too flimsy to support a full grub.

 

You might want to try a gravity feeder; I find them much better for my hens and just suspend them from the roof of the run with an unbent wire coat hanger.

 

[heth1986]

Goodness, why didn't I think of that?! Thanks Dogmother! The feeder I have already is very similar to that and a wooden bar across the missble of the run to hang it from so I'll give that a go first.

 

*** Runs out to rescue pellets from their inevitable fate ***

[The Dogmother]

Make sure that you hang it level with the backs of your hens so that they don't get their feet in it.

 

I used to use grubs, then had too many hens, plus they'd always hoik the feed out. I put it in the glugs instead and they'd stand on/in them and poo all over the feed

 

I have two sets of gravity drinkers and feeders so that I can rotate when cleaning them - they get a scrub under the outside tap, then a weekly blitz with all the dog bowls etc and a healthy dose of disinfectant in the dishwasher

[heth1986]

Super duper! I can't hang their waterer but they might leave it alone if I put it away from the feed, I think they trample the water in the mad rush for the pellets (which is every time one decides to have a snack, just in case there's something new in it!).

 

I shall try and test it this week... can't believe I didn't think to hang their feeder up

[Chortle Chook]

Just for anyone else reading this . . . I did try to adapt a Grub/Glug to hang on chickenn wire by putting two little cup hooks in the back bits that stick out. It did not work The Glug was too heavy and the adaptation made the Grub hang at the wrong angle so my chickens found it hard to get their heads in. However I now have an Omlet stand to go with them and it is just brilliant. Not only do the Grub / Glug hang nicely on it but it gives me a sort of handle to pick up the whole contraption all in one when I want to take it inside. I can even hang it by a singe cup hook inside one of my kitchen cupboards overnight (with the Glug emptied out).

 

You can just see it in this picture

[Redwing]

A bit of thin batten screwed across two uprights of the run will take a Glug and Grub, the thickness of a bit of laminate flooring is perfect if you have any lying around! IKEA Kroken (kitchen utensil) rails are excellent but I think they have discountinued those

[cloud]

Redwing's solution sound nifty and sounds simpler than mine

 

This is what I've done. It lets me hang a Grub on the 1/2 inch wire mesh of a non-eglu run. It consists of a thick wire bent in a 'H' like shape for hanging the Grub on the wire and and couple of blocks that glue to the Grub and act a spacers to stop it tilting forward. I painted the blocks green to match the Grub and to preserve the wood.