Hippie Chick Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 I hope I'm not the only one who remembers the Toyah song! Anyway... I have a mystery problem with my treadle feeder. The feeder itself is fine, everything works correctly and fits together with no gaps or loose bits, which is why it's so strange. I've emptied the feeder, cleaned it, checked it all over and so on. There is only one exit for the pellets and that's by falling into the tray when a chicken stands on the treadle. For the past few weeks there's been a large amount of feed being 'spilled' somehow, I find it under the feeder itself, not the treadle part where they stand, but underneath the body of the feeder. There is nothing there physically in the feeder where it could escape from, everything is a tight fit and not even dust from the feed can escape. So with the feeder working correctly and no damage to it, it can only be something external happening. I do know that the chickens like to sit on the feeder and sometimes they knock it out of position if one crashes into it, so I wondered if they were somehow jolting the food out. So last night I put house bricks around it on three sides so it couldn't move. But that didn't solve the pellet spillage. Watching the chickens feeding, none of them do anything but peck neatly at the pellets in the feeder tray and don't scatter them. There are no mystery holes in the WIR anywhere so all that I can think of that could get in are rats and mice. Mice wouldn't have a chance of opening the feeder, rats shouldn't be heavy enough to operate it either but maybe if they worked in a group - but that wouldn't explain why the food is left underneath it rather than being stolen and stashed. I obviously don't want to have food out all the time in case it does attract rats, we must have some around but they're not a problem in this area but eventually they will find it. I don't have anything such as a camera to set up and record things unfortunately to solve the problem. So - any ideas. Anyone? Please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mars Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 Two possibilities, either Rats are pushing the flap and getting to the food. or hens spilling the food out, I would go for the second as Rats wouldn't leave the food behind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
