Best rat proof feeder?

[Allegra17]

Our rats keep eating my chickens food and even eating the plastic container that the food goes on with the lid. What’s the best rat proof feed container??

 

[GracePoultry]

Maybe a feeder like this that the chickens have to stand on to open. I don't think a rat would be heavy enough to use the lever/step, but they might be strong enough to lift the lid up

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMTMYF7V?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_ct_Q7NYV0P34AKFKD59DMH3

 

[The Moonshiner]

@Al Gerhart

 

[RojoMarz]

I have one of @Al Gerhart 's Ratproof Chicken feeders. It works great!

 

[My Three Chicks]

I used the Grandpas Feeder and am very happy with it. Also sold on Amazon.
https://grandpasfeeders.com
I also have the Rent A Coop feeder but don't like it as much.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Our rats keep eating my chickens food and even eating the plastic container that the food goes on with the lid. What’s the best rat proof feed container??

Questions you need to ask your self first:
Best at what?
Best when used by what?
You want an actual rat proof feeder?

First question, best at keeping the rats out?

The feeder needs the following features; a narrow and distant treadle step to prevent vermin overwhelming the treadle, a spring loaded door to prevent rats, mice or squirrels from just pushing the door open or pushing the lid up, no plastic, no complicated mechanism, inward swinging door for safety versus an overhead door that means weeks for training and leaving the feeder open for those weeks.

Best value that still keeps the rats out?

The feeder needs to have a ready source of repair parts like replacement springs, connecting rods or wire links, these days it needs to be made in the U.S. so it supports the economy versus pumping millions overseas but that is a balance with cost as well.

Best when used by what? Silkies, bantams?

A rat proof silky or bantam feeder is almost an oxymoron. You need both a difference reach and a difference in weight between a rodent and the chicken for a feeder to be rat proof. Those differences are much less with banties and silkies.

For the smaller birds you need a wider, close in treadle step or a duck step/bantam step available with the feeder. This is still better than just a wide step, you can gradually push the duck step back as the chickens grow or become accustom to using a treadle feeder for maximum resistance to rodents. The inward swinging door is still much safer. Having an infinitely adjustable spring pressure on the door is very valuable with banties or silkies so the door resistance can be balanced carefully. Still, expect less rat proof ability with smaller birds.

Best when used by standard adult chickens?

You want that distant and narrow perch, not a wide step. You want the ability to set that spring, or springs in our feeder's case, to as stiff as possible. And I don't know of another feeder other than our feeder that even has a spring loaded door much less one that is adjustable.

What amount of risk to the chickens are you willing to accept? No feeder with a lid or door is 100% safe. Neither is having rats or mice around or wild birds bringing in diseases.


Best for poults and chicks under say a pound or two?

There isn't a rat proof feeder available for those small birds. The one purpose I could find for a Grandpa feeder, either the Chinese made ones or the Mexican made ones, is for feeding poults under a couple of pounds. Not 100% safe, but if it is meat birds you can lose a few.

The good news is once you have driven the rodents away through starvation you can coast by when you bring in the year's batch of fresh chicks. The rodent population will be small if there are any and the chicks will grow out fast enough that the rodent population won't explode before they are transitioned to a treadle feeder.

Do your research very carefully, read the negative reviews as most feeders are bought as chicken feeders, not to stop rats. Never trust an online review from the manufacture's own website nor from a site that uses a link back to Amazon so they earn a commission. We get emails all the time asking for a free feeder and to be put on our affiliate program. I do have a few feed stores I allow to have affiliate status because they stock the feeder but never to someone running a website. Too much of a moral hazard, they will oversell the product. I'd rather lose a sale as to take someone's money for a product they didn't check out before hand before they spent their hard earned money.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Oh, avoid the Amazon sold feeders. I would have to mark up feeders by at least 30% to cover their costs and pay around $12.00 towards the shipping cost. That "free shipping" is never free. Amazon is great if you are the OCD type and expect a lot out of a product because you can return stuff for no reason.

 

[Penpal]

I just mix up some peppermint oil with water and spray it around. Rodents hate it, chickens don't notice it.

 

[FarmallNut]

Post in thread 'Weather proof feeder'
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/weather-proof-feeder.1638377/post-27981900

 

[The Moonshiner]

I think they're looking for rat proof.