[freebirdy]

Hi all, yet another question about my baby blue poland! After last weeks horrendous trip to the vet with her weird behavour (concussion!!) I still can't get her to eat out of the hooded feeders dotted around my garden.
The breeder used to keep her in a nursery pen with her sisblings and the feeders she used were of the lipped type with no hood.
I have one small 1KG feeder that she will happily go to and eat from, however for practicality I would like to remove this feeder and get her to eat from the larger hooded type. I throw away so much food wasted because when it rains (yes I know it's wonderfully sunny now!) the food turns to inedible mush!
My birds free range around my garden and have access to 4 hooded feeders (between 7 birds) and also 1 suspended feeder in the run that has pellets in for our boy Worzel. The hooded ones all have mash in as the girls seem to pref it to pellets where as worzel wont touch mash and only eats from a suspended feeder because of his huge feather crest!!
I've tried removing the small feeder in the hope that Lucy will go to one of the other feeders, no such luck! By the end of the day she is ravenous and I have to give in and seperate her and put down the small feeder for her.
Suggestions please? I don't want to compramise her health and welfare by leaving her to become starving each day! She simply will not eat from the big feeders! It's taken 4 weeks to get her to drink from the ceramic dog bowls I use instead of conventional drinkers! I use bowls with mesh over to keep the feather crests dry and clean, however I do have one drinker that Lucy has used but now she's finally clicked and is drinking from the bowl, but no go with the feeders!

[joyfull]

some birds don't like feeders with rain hats on so I have a selection. Those without hats I place under old plastic wheel arches which keep the rain off them. I'm sure you could find or make something similar or even make a wooden rain cover so they can stand out of the rain and also eat 

[Sassy]

In some equestrian outlets it is possible to buy very large black plastic water containers/troughs. I use these for horses and once they start to leak or have cracked I cut a large semi-circle out of the side, turn it upside down and peg it to the floor with tent pegs so that it doesn't blow about. They have been very useful for my ducks and hens for shelter and nesting.