Bono originally waited until other hens were on the treadle and stepped up beside them, but eventually he got the hang of opening it by himself. Grandpa’s Poultry feeders have a cantilevered lid over the feed trough that lifts to expose the feed when a chicken steps onto the attached platform and closes when the chicken steps off it. One a brighter note, if you’re looking to reduce the wild birds stealing feed like I was, go to backyardchickens. I will have to put something on the pedal come winter time because it gets too cold to expect them to step on cold steel.

It took several years for Bill (Grandpa) Kirkham, a retired farmer to perfect his automatic chicken feeder. And you want that as what could have happened is the chicken that was feeding correctly at the time, finishes feeding and steps off, but the chicken feeding incorrectly from the side could have its head injured by the closing lid. The hopper has a sloped back, so grain never gets stuck, it just naturally falls down into the feeding box. The manufacturer recommends using a pair of “training bolts” that are moved down succeeding holes, gradually allowing the lid to close further and further till it closes all the way down.The video below is our initial thoughts on a Grandpa’s Feeder, from New Zealand, that just moved here using a moving company for this. 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. Good inner packing will protect a product from a head high fall, usually Styrofoam or cardboard crush zones.

I do however still have it in the open position after 4 weeks because the motion freaked my chickens out so bad they wouldn’t come out of their house😏 Not too worried about birds or rodents in their enclosed yard. A huge number of the positive reviews mentioned that the wire grid prevents the food from flowing properly and they warn to check the feed level and push feed down with your hand if needed. Going to get hubby to screw it all together tomorrow, then I'm going to ask him to board over a pallet so that it has a level platform to stand on - then we'll be all ready to go! 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.I appreciate that the feed is secure, that my chickens aren’t beaking it out onto the ground for rodents to clean up at night, that I don’t have to fill feeders as frequently, that my birds are eating clean feed 100% of the time, and I am saving loads of money on chicken feed! So bad that I would be watching out of the window in the middle of the day and see at least 30 to 40 rats run across the yard to my chicken coop and eat from my feed bowls. I placed her on the floor plate and she watched the lid open, then took her off and she watched it close. A better design would have used two fasteners to hold the step on the treadle bar instead of the eight fasteners used. We are told time and time again that people are either fed up with their current feeder because they went for the cheap option or that they are sick of wasting feed.