Grandpa's Feeders Automatic Chicken Feeder - Sturdy Galvanized Steel Poultry Feeders - Rat Proof & No Spill with Weatherproof Lid - Standard Size for 6-12 Chickens 10 days (20lb Feed)

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Rats and mice can literally smell grain from three miles away, and they'll take advantage of any nook or cranny to get at it. We put a piece of weatherstripping on the flap that shuts down so that we would not have to listen to the sound all day. I have a small flock of 7 hens in a backyard setup, and wanted something that did three things: 1) protect the food from the rain, 2) protect the food from other critters, and 3) allow my flock to have better access to more food more often without me needing to refill. It takes a few weeks for them to get the hang of the feeder and some nervous chickens can take longer.

Week Three: the feeder is closed and hens must stand on a metal plate to open it and to avail themselves to the pellets. Since we have very cold winters where I live, I taped a plastic mat to the step so it won't be so cold for them to step on the metal plate.To keep wild birds from eating the food during the day, we used hardware wire to cover the standard chicken wire. This experiment will be interesting and I hope it reduces the loss of food to the tiny nocturnal creatures that visit at night.

I love the idea, since chipmunks and small squirrels can get into their run and get their food, but I have to leave it propped open for them or the bin is never emptied. It’s like a cereal box all the smaller bits are at the bottom of the packet and you get them last or its just dust!I have used many different feeders over the years but have never tried a Grandpa’s Feeder so was very pleased to have the opportunity to try one out on one of my runs of Light Sussex. It is nice that it keeps them from scattering feed throughout the whole run and keeps chicken poo out. The lady that posted the video originally said the first time she noticed it there were 21 rats that boiled up out of it when she opened it.