How big do they have to be to use this?

[dbounds10]

I tried my hand at building a port feeder that has caps to keep food out of the coop and hopefully rats out of the food. I feel like some of the holes I made are a little high and wonder if they need to be full grown to get their heads in there far enough to reach the food. There are 6 ports. 2 each on the side and one on either end. I have 9 birds. My run is completely covered in hardware cloth but there are unavoidable gaps around the gates. I also have a small 8 pound open feeder that I can put away every night so there are 2 feeding stations but I wanted to have one out there all the time so there is always food on the occasion when my health keeps me from getting out there.

 

[BastyPutt]

I'd take the small feeder away for a bit and see if they use it. You'd be surprised at how comfortably they can stick their necks out and eat.

 

[paintedChix]

You can always put in rocks, bricks, lumber or cinder blocks as steps to reach.

The biggest problem I had was juveniles crawling into the port, not able to get out & being pecked by others who wanted to eat. Had it happen in a big barrel feeder in the coop & in a rent a coop feeder that I had in a tractor for young birds... between morning & eve checks. 3x - 3 dead babies. I still use the rentacoop feeders. The big one was purchased by a friend when I moved a bunch of chickens before spending a lot of time out of state w/ family stuff in 2019, 2020 & 2021. None were empty when this occurred.

Just something to be aware of.

I will be making barrel feeders again as I rejuvenate my flocks. Right now, all my birds are in tractors or in garden beds we are building.

 

[Jmcintosh23]

You can always put in rocks, bricks, lumber or cinder blocks as steps to reach.

The biggest problem I had was juveniles crawling into the port, not able to get out & being pecked by others who wanted to eat. Had it happen in a big barrel feeder in the coop & in a rent a coop feeder that I had in a tractor for young birds... between morning & eve checks. 3x - 3 dead babies. I still use the rentacoop feeders. The big one was purchased by a friend when I moved a bunch of chickens before spending a lot of time out of state w/ family stuff in 2019, 2020 & 2021. None were empty when this occurred.

Just something to be aware of.

I will be making barrel feeders again as I rejuvenate my flocks. Right now, all my birds are in tractors or in garden beds we are building.

O that's good to know thanks