slight problem.

[p54jes]

The problem I have is one of my girls has a habit of emptying the feeder by flicking it all out as soon as it filled up, I'm worried that this might attract rats so any ideas how to stop it please.
Cheers
P54jes

[janeyo]

Ours used to get spread about too so I bought a large ceramic dogs' bowl (with 'dog' on it as funnily enough they didn't have one with chicken on lol).
They haven't managed to spill it since.

[lynda66]

put mesh/wire over it so it forms slats wide enough for them to get their head in and out but not wide enough for a foot too .... or raise it up off the ground so she cant get to it with her feet.... depending what kind of feeder you have depends what you can do .... or buy a new feeder that she can't do it to

[Flummery]

Or put it in an outer container - something flat and shallow. We hang ours under the house and occasionally they all decide to eat from the same side and it tips a bit out. Still, our run is suposedly ratproof (a mouse could get in though!)

[Hilary B]

A recent thread (can't remember the name) had some rather clever feeder designs that would be difficult for a chook to scatter food from, without making it too difficult for her to eat. The feeder was made from a large plastic bottle (like the ones used in office water coolers) a plastic bucket just wider than the bottle, and oddments of other stuff.
There was a similar design for a drinker.

[MaureenHall]

When I went to Cotswold Chickens, the hen houses (a divided barn I think) had lengths of guttering fixed to the walls on brackets just at head height, ideal non-scratch-outable feeders. I'm considering doing something similar but just haven't got around to it yet. Would need something to keep the feed dry when it's chucking it down (like it is now!) and you'd have to remove it at night to deter vermin (I think)