[karlooben]

how many of you lleave feed out full time for the birds to have as and when they want , i tend to leave some in a large tray an then top it up though out the day but i have been looking at the feeders that u can fill rite up and i was wandering if the birds tend to eat to much when one of those is used.seems to me that i would go though sacks of feed a bit to often then what i do now .

[poultrygeist]

We have a hanging hopper under the coop, which is filled every night so that there's always about a day and a half of food in it.
They only take what they need and certainly aren't overweight. As yet, no prob with rodents pinching it.

Rob

[Jellyhead]

I fill up the feeders Loobs. It works well for me and if they do turf out all the Pondeuse pellets all over the floor I dont fill up the feeder until they have all gone

[karlooben]

i was looking at them on ebay an there are deals where u can get a drinker and a feeder for under a tenner thats a lot cheaper then the stores i have seen them at.i have 20 birds that will be using one what size would u say i mite need .

[jack russell]

I have feeders hanging with layers pellets in always keep it topped up, when i go to check them each day i give them a few hand fulls of mixed corn thrown around for them to scratch at mine aren't over weight either they also get greens bread etc.

[Nogger]

I have a hopper,and  same as jack i keep it topped up always ,no probs  

[poultrygeist]

Ours is a 3kg for 6 birds. Seems about right. They reckon 100-120g/day per bird but seems very variable.

Rob

[mickwood]

I keep mine out all the time but If your gonna do it I'd suggest that you keep an eye out for rats and stuff but also buy a feeder with a raincover! I try and bring mine in when I know it's gonna rain but I usually forget and end up wasting some feed and having to replace it and clean the feeder...bit of a pain...I'm aiming to buy the galvanised feeder with the cover soon!!

[karlooben]

at the mo i have guttering srcewed into an old log bed that i made an thats wonderful when the weather is great an the girls love the guttering  , but now its winter i want to add pallet top  shelters around the run so they can eat in the dry but i was looking at using these feeders. so far i havent noticed any rats or anything else and i check every day for holes etc . i would be able to put the feeders away of a night in dustbins an just re hang it in the mornings .

[poultrygeist]

Sounds ideal. I would have thoguht either a 5 or 10kg for the lot or 2 or 3 3kg ones.

Little shelters sounds like a good idea.

Rob

[karlooben]

well i need to build a new larger home for the babies as they wont go in with the big girls for a while yet so i will be doing some mini shelters at the same time this wekeend ,need to do it while the ground is wet got to thump in wooden posts    and i was lookign at these feeders think i will be buying of ebay tomorw .

[richyrich7]

I made mine from a bucket and flower pot holds about 2 days worth for 4 birds, best drinker I got was from ebay LINK I bought a single but it's so easy to clean and maintain. And to fit  

[matilda duck]

Little shelters sounds like a good idea.Rob [/quote]Bit of advice here from someone who learned the hard way but was funny..    I have wire over the top of the run about 7ft high, and over the weekend put some tarpaulin over to keep food and chickens drier.  Ha ha when it snowed tuesday i was feeling clever until I went out to push the tarp up to release the weight of the snow.  :oops:  Yes well you can all stop laughing I ended up looking like an ice queen in wellies  :oops:      The moral of the story is don't use tarp or be less than 5ft tall!!!!!

[GrannieAnnie]

Our feeders are kept inside the hen houses and are filled up every day.  Being inside the feed doesn't get wet when it rains.  The younger chooks have the drinkers in the 2nd link, but the adult chooks have black half height buckets which hold about 2 gallons and we get from oneof the cheapo shops called Scooby Doos for £1.  2 of them are 2 years old and have been outside all winter so a bargain!

We also have some semi auto drinkers for inside, but when the chooks fly around they knock them and water goes all over the shavings which get soggy, so we've haven't used them for a while.

This feeder holds 12kg at a pinch, and 100 chickens have 4 of them, sometimes 5.

http://www.solwayfeeders.com/productsdetail1.asp?STOCK_CODE=6012

and these drinkers hold 9 litres, and at the moment the 66 meat chicks have 2 of them, but that doesn't last a day, so I must put another one in there for them.  There is P&P at cost per weight, but Solways service is very good and they are farmers too and don't mind answering questions!

http://www.solwayfeeders.com/productsdetail1.asp?STOCK_CODE=1805

[karlooben]

theres so many ideas coming up ,lol what one do i go for .

as for the snow on the floor      i can just picture you now but i am the same as i have fruit wire netting over my run thats also 7 foot high and when i slam the main door the whole lot sprays me with water when its been raining we aint had snow yet but i got tons of leaves on mine . but theres one other thing  guys to save me from making another post, i am putting together this temparory new house tomorw for the babies an i was wandering if they could bed down rite onto the ground if i place down plenty of bedding , the pallet i brought home from work for the base is the wrong size for the wood i have for the sides, hopfully they wont be in there that long an after they have finsihed with it will be kept as a quantine house only . if thats not a good idea then i got lots of sawing to do