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  1. Al Gerhart

    Blue Jay Eating Eggs!

    Dude, you are telling someone to commit a crime, a federal crime! Please folks, before you post take one minute to Google things: Yes, blue jays are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) in the United States. This means it is illegal to harm, trap, or kill them without a permit...
  2. Al Gerhart

    Rats here and there

    So you are from down under, treadle feeders can't work upside down silly. :( Jokes aside, which kind of treadle feeder is it? I know you have a couple of inward swinging door type available there in AU. Most likely a Grandpa Xi style feeder maybe? Post some pictures of the mechanism, might...
  3. Al Gerhart

    Daytime rats eating chicken feed. Not allowed to use rodenticide in my area due to owls, Hawks, coyotes and domestic dogs of course.

    "And browse or forage is exactly what mine are doing every day from dawn til dusk on several acres in addition to feeding them twice a day." That makes all the difference in the world. And you are right, one size never fits all. Good discussion!
  4. Al Gerhart

    Daytime rats eating chicken feed. Not allowed to use rodenticide in my area due to owls, Hawks, coyotes and domestic dogs of course.

    I certainly don't discredit your long history of raising chickens, that isn't the point. Not having feed before the hens does lower your feed bill. But, chickens are browsers, eating a little often over the daylight hours. "Abstract--In mammals, time-restricted feeding (TRF) with no caloric...
  5. Al Gerhart

    Daytime rats eating chicken feed. Not allowed to use rodenticide in my area due to owls, Hawks, coyotes and domestic dogs of course.

    It isn't the lemon oil, it is hand feeding twice a day that made the rodents leave. But you are depriving your chickens of needed nutrition, slowing growth for broiler birds and limiting egg production for layers. There have been studies on lemon oil and other aromatic oils on rodents but they...
  6. Al Gerhart

    2025 ANTS RULE and always will...

    Soapy water will drown ants very quickly just by spraying them. Kill enough and the ants learn to avoid the area.
  7. Al Gerhart

    I Need To Get Rid of Mice WITHOUT Mouse Poison!

    Do a forum search in this forum for rats and chickens. Trying to trap or poison your way out of a rodent infestation is futile. Were you to succeed, a new population would pop up soon. Search also for Howard E's rats 101 posts. He laid out three methods, sanitation which is bulk feed in...
  8. Al Gerhart

    Concern About Automatic Chicken Feeders

    Good post. This type of feeder is called a guillotine style feeder for this very reason and you have come up with an excellent modification. You might add something like a 1/2" metal conduit or just a 1" square strip of wood to stiffen things up at the front. The other dangers include the...
  9. Al Gerhart

    Rats here and there

    Search for the key words rats and chickens here in this very forum and you will find tons of discussions with a lot of advice. Baking soda, works if they eat 40% of their body weight in the mixture at one setting. Not happening in the real world. What does work, bulk feed in metal drums with...
  10. Al Gerhart

    Daytime rats eating chicken feed. Not allowed to use rodenticide in my area due to owls, Hawks, coyotes and domestic dogs of course.

    Yes, that is one of the dangers of a treadle feeder with too small birds. They get up into the feeder, door closes, in in the case of the guillotine style lids like the Grandpa Xi feeder, a chicken steps down onto the lid and the lid comes down and crushes them. Once they hit a couple of pounds...
  11. Al Gerhart

    Daytime rats eating chicken feed. Not allowed to use rodenticide in my area due to owls, Hawks, coyotes and domestic dogs of course.

    Of course. I love it when people go through the info on the website and ask questions. The ones that scare me are the ones that don't read the website. You can answer their questions but you never know what they didn't learn and don't know to ask questions about.
  12. Al Gerhart

    Daytime rats eating chicken feed. Not allowed to use rodenticide in my area due to owls, Hawks, coyotes and domestic dogs of course.

    They need to be at least two to three pounds and long enough to reach before it is safe to have chicks around any treadle feeder. They find ways to smother themselves or get trapped in treadle feeders.
  13. Al Gerhart

    Daytime rats eating chicken feed. Not allowed to use rodenticide in my area due to owls, Hawks, coyotes and domestic dogs of course.

    No one will ever accuse me of overselling my feeders. LOL I do lot in the product copy trying to offend the OCD types just to manage expectations. And I watch for red flags, if someone acts entitled in their emails, wants to argue or complain before I sell them anything, or just acts like a...
  14. Al Gerhart

    Daytime rats eating chicken feed. Not allowed to use rodenticide in my area due to owls, Hawks, coyotes and domestic dogs of course.

    Clever mounting you did there. Message me privately with your name and mailing address and I'll get you four feeder lip extensions in the mail. Remind me you need four of them please and let me know if they fix the crumble spilling. An alternative way is to choke off the throat of the feeder...
  15. Al Gerhart

    Daytime rats eating chicken feed. Not allowed to use rodenticide in my area due to owls, Hawks, coyotes and domestic dogs of course.

    Pellets, crumbles, whole grains. No fermented/wet food. You could though place a plastic container inside and place wet food in the container to keep it away from vermin.
  16. Al Gerhart

    Daytime rats eating chicken feed. Not allowed to use rodenticide in my area due to owls, Hawks, coyotes and domestic dogs of course.

    Usually three patio blocks make a great base. In your situation, two would have to be dug into the slope to make them level. The feeder and treadle take up the first two 8" wide blocks, the last block serves as a platform to make it easy for the hen to walk up and pin the treadle down with one...
  17. Al Gerhart

    Daytime rats eating chicken feed. Not allowed to use rodenticide in my area due to owls, Hawks, coyotes and domestic dogs of course.

    Thanks for the good word, Anon112. OP, you said you tried treadle feeders, but what brand? If you will post the brand names or pictures perhaps I can offer some advice to get them working for you. On the off chance it was one of our feeders, something was not right and it can be fixed to...
  18. Al Gerhart

    Hanging Feeder Humidity, HELP!

    You were way ahead of me on this one! But yeah, that is usually my concern, newbies seeing the post and thinking scratch is okay.
  19. Al Gerhart

    Hanging Feeder Humidity, HELP!

    You are now feeding a non balanced diet. Not good. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I cannot see a feed mill getting a balanced feed through a whole grain mix. Are they coating the grain with the admixtures/minerals/vitamins?
  20. Al Gerhart

    Squirrels Stealing Eggs from Coop

    Frustrated or not, you can't have chickens without a secure coop for them to live in and not expect worse problems than this. Fix the coop. They are likely raising young and need the protein so they aren't going to stop.
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