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My neighbor pointed at my feeder and asked why I was throwing money in the trash
She keeps 9 hens two doors down and said my open feeder was just a free buffet for starlings, so I switched to a treadle feeder on Monday and I'm already down to one 40 lb bag every 3 weeks instead of two. I figured she was just being nosy but the math checked out over a month. Anyone else made this switch and did your flock take a bit to get used to stepping on the plate?
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leep3310d ago
Took my Barred Rocks about 4 days to figure out the treadle. What worked was propping the lid open with a brick for the first two days so they could see the feed and get used to standing on the plate without it slamming shut on them. Day three I set the brick so the lid only dropped halfway, then pulled it completely on day five. The trick is making sure the youngest or dumbest bird in the flock watches an older hen do it first, because they copy each other way faster than they learn on their own. Keep the plate tension light at first too, some feeders come cranked down tight from the factory and a 5 lb hen can't push it. Your neighbor did you a favor whether she meant to or not, I went from 2 bags a month down to one after I switched and the starlings finally gave up and moved on.
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