Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
Update about my neighbour's GF is that it has started to stick open - probably because of dirt and/or feed and/or corrosion affecting the hinges so beware of that after a while (she's had it about 12 - 18 months) Make sure you keep it clean around the moving parts! Over 20 years of being in the industry has allowed us to bring a product to the market that we can truly say is the best.
At first, I found the chickens were pecking at the lid and I would partially hold the lid open for them until one stepped onto the treadle plate as you’ll see in the photo gallery (my hand is holding it slightly open if you look bottom right) but I found out after observation that my rather large birds could comfortably stand back and reach over the top of the treadle plate to the feed without having to stand on it, so it took mine a little longer than most to get the hang of it. The galvanized “ Grandpas feeder” metal feeder has a metal plate on which the hens must stand to open the lid. My birds did take a little longer than normal but they soon realised that stepping on the treadle plate meant food and they were quite happy to walk over, step on the treadle and eat when they were hungry. In my personal experience, the only 'ant-proof' feeders are ones that do not come in contact with the ground or other surfaces that could form a bridge onto the feeder/feed.So, there may be plenty of food in the feeder, but my chickens get about a day’s worth of feed and I need to push it down for them again. If a chicken is on the base plate at the front and happily feeding and another one tries to come in and eat from the side – it cant. Anti-flick grill: prevents the birds from scooping feed out of the trough onto the dirty ground where coccidiosisand other diseases can contaminate the feed. The feeder does nicely with this concern, and it helps that I don’t have a lot of critters to protect from. Next on my list is to install an automatic waterer, I can have that coming in straight off the main water supply, then that’s another thing off my mind.
The lid that covers the eating area until the chicken stands on the treadle has always been a bit temperamental, getting jammed every so often for no reason I can see! The run in question was perfect for the trial as there have been a number of rooks dropping in for breakfast after I had put the feeders out in the mornings. I'm really pleased actually, as I am going away on Sunday for a couple of nights and now I don't have to ask my neighbour to set the feeder every morning when she opens up. Extrapolating from the startling data found here, I calculated that 25 rats can consume 500 pounds of feed per year.The manufacturers are so confident of the quality that they offer a two year "total satisfaction" guarantee. We had 12 chickens in that particular coop [we have several coops across the farm] so that should come to 36kg a month. At the same time Grandpa's Feeders also provide a protected way of feeding your backyard chickens on demand, allowing them to access their food when hungry, ensuring optimal laying and happy chickens. I got the benefits in terms of the money saved by keeping rats out the coop and run, those benefits I’m still enjoying now.
I find the powdered feed remnants always sit at the bottom front of the feeder which causes the rest to not fall down as intended. A simple 1/2″ horizontal lip bent on the front part would have eliminated the need for the wire grid for the vast majority of birds. When we actually sat down and ran the sums we worked out that our chickens should be eating on average 3. Word of caution – when introducing anything new to your flock and water is more important than feed, just ensure they are all happy and can’t use it with no issue. For very light birds or bantams which are too light for the feeder, it is very easy to adjust the feeder by putting a small weight on the tread plate.
Initially they were freaked out by it, but with time they got the hang of it and now there is no turning back.
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