Experimental 'cone' feeder

[Snadger]

Rats are becoming a bit of a problem at the allotment eating the food from the feeders.

With this in mind I purchased some 'springs' off ebay to turn barrels into peck feeders and not have layers pellets that are accessible to rats.

This has been a great success and i currently have four peck feeders in operation. One problem I've found with them though is that when the pellets get low inside them, because of there flat bottomed shape I get an egg timer effect inside which stops the flow even though there's still pellets left.

What I need is a cone methinks. (lightbulb smilie )

I found a large road cone in a skip and managed to fasten a spring onto the pointy end with silicone.
Three holes at the wide end allow me to thread through some hanging rope and vary the height.
I have just today hung it up, filled it, and covered the top with a plastic feed bag. Pellets seemed to be running freely when the sping was pecked so i'll just have to wait a few days to see if its been a success.

[Suechooks]

How clever! I haven't had great success with my spring feeder. How far from the ground do you have the spring? My bantams got the idea but the big girls hadn't got a clue!

[Snadger]

How clever! I haven't had great success with my spring feeder. How far from the ground do you have the spring? My bantams got the idea but the big girls hadn't got a clue!

I have the spring so they have to reach a bit to peck it! I would guess about 15 inches in old money?

Not sure yet about cone feeder as i've got a suspicion the angle is too steep and may be causing a blockage.............not allowing the spring to refill? the spring was empty when i visited the site but a very light tap on the side and it was full again. I have a bucket bearing down on the pellets at the top and this may be putting too much pressure on pellets?
I'll persevere for a couple of days, honing the idea and if it falls flat, It will just be back to the drawing board again!

I'm a great believer in the old adage " He who makes no mistakes, makes nothing"

[jps]

i have the spring type feeders and have spotted the same issue, good idea to overcome it tho.

io have thought about repalcing them with the adaptors that sort of make them into a bowl, i dont think all of ours are able to use the springs so we have to put trays of food out, thus negating the barrel feeders all together!

[RichmondHens]

We use hole peckers underneath the barrels. We tried a spring but couldn't get it to work at the right tension; it was either too loose and the feed came through too quickly or it was too tight and the pellet was jammed in. The hole peckers work well but we do have to be careful which brand of pellet we use. Some brands have a smaller sized pellet which comes through the holes too quickly. You need to have no spillage, just a few pellets released each time the bird takes a peck.

[Scarlet]

Let me know if you find a solution Snager! I'm having a huge problem with rats this winter, just can't keep on top of them. Used poison, traps, ferrets etc. We back on to a barn that stores grain for cows and we seem to be over run. Never had this much of a problem, but I've even seen them in broad daylight this week!

[super trowel]

I use a T feeder.
I will try and find a link to it for you.
I felt a little ripped off when it came through the door.
But I have never had any problems with blockage.

One second............

[super trowel]

I have one of these...
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/vie...id=46158897149
Felt a little ripped off when I got it, but have never had any problems with it.
Will try and get some photos for you if you want them.
Still have the same problem with needing the cone thingy on the inside of the feeder.

[super trowel]

I have one of these....
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/vie...id=46158897149
Felt a little ripped off when it came through the door but it dose the job.
And the ones I have made since are not as robust, but they do the job!

[Scarlet]

Many thanks ST - I'm off to google!

[super trowel]

Oh my!
Really sorry, my phone has been playing up.
Didn't realize I had re posted this three times.
I will try and delete a couple.
Time to get rid of the blackberry and I might go and get an apple instead

[Snadger]

After a few initial hicups the cone seems to be working very well. I have also seen a cone, screwed to a wall and used as a chicken culler by putting the chicken in the cone head down and lopping off its head. Sounds gruesome, but it would be a relatively painless way of culling and allow the chicken to bleed out.

Handy things these comes!

The last batch of Lloyds pellets I got seemed to have a bigger pellet size which made it a struggle for all my spring feeders. Luckily the latest batch has returned to normal (possibly because of complaints?) and work fine through the springs.

I reckon I'm saving about one third on pellets by using the springs. I used to have to get four to five bags once a fortnight but now its once every three weeks!

[RichmondHens]

That's a lot of food to waste on rats. Hopefully your new system will now foil them.

[Snadger]

That's a lot of food to waste on rats. Hopefully your new system will now foil them.

Its these North East rats...............they're the size of cats!!!!!!!!

[Hilary B]

For anyone who can't get hold of a ready-made cone it might be feasible to make one out of the flexible glass-substitute sold in so many garden centres (I think it's called Multi-glass), not as the whole thing, but as a conical 'lining' for a normal barrel-shaped feeder. Cut a half-circle, curve it into a cone-shape, secure with strong sticky-tape, cut off the tip, hey-presto! The radius of your half-circle will need to be nearly as big as the internal diameter of the barrel you want to fit it into.