Corn auto feeder?

[placidsheep]

Does anyone have any ideas for auto feeding chickens corn in the evenings?

It's that time of year when the chickens get up after I leave for work but also get back to bed before I get home. Im wondering if like with cats/dogs there is some sort of setup I can use to auto feed them corn at a set time.

Im thinking of tinkering with a RaspberryPi to see if this is something I can make happen. I have seen some projects around but wanted to speak with someone running one first hand.

 

[Gray Farms]

Why not just feed before you leave for work. They'll find it when they get up. Also I wouldn't recommend corn as their main source of feed. To much corn will make chickens to fat and effect laying and organ function. Corn is ok for occasional treats.

 

[placidsheep]

Why not just feed before you leave for work. They'll find it when they get up. Also I wouldn't recommend corn as their main source of feed. To much corn will make chickens to fat and effect laying and organ function. Corn is ok for occasional treats.

The main source of feed is layers pellets which are permanently in their run at all times. Along with two water feeders (they sometimes knock one over) I should have mentioned we use a handful or so of corn in the evenings as their treat and also to aid their body temps overnight in the colder months (not sure if that's true..)

But as i say we are at work when the hens head to bed so they can sometimes miss the corn. I know it's not a necessary thing that they always have it but they are pets to us and we dont like them to miss out :-/

I should also say that we have automatic door on our coop so the chickens are only let out about half hour after we leave for work to avoid foxes etc.

 

[Gray Farms]

Feed in the evening does help create a little extra body heat while they are sleeping. But it doesn't necessarily have to be corn. If they have pellets 24/7 in the run they are likely eating some before they go to bed. You could try and locate/build an auto feeder like the auto game feeders that are used for deer. Set it to go off once a day roughly an hour or so before they go to roost.

 

[RoosterML]

I agree with @Gray Farms. With feed available to them 24/7 they are eating and filling up before bed. The heat doesn’t come from only corn it comes from them braking down the food over night.

 

[chickens really]

Chickens don't need corn. As a treat once a week maybe? High cause for fatty liver syndrome..

 

[placidsheep]

Taking in to account what people have said I'm going to try and find something to auto feed treats. Possibly veg etc at a set time.

The trouble with the girls is they will eat the green and veg before eating layers pellets which leads them to then randomly lau soft shell eggs outside in the run.

We have worked this down to just not eating the layers pellets to get the nutrients they need for the eggs.

So if I can automate treat feeding nearer the afternoon that would work.

 

[Meg-in-MT]

If they are eating too many scraps and not enough of their formulated food, you ought to think about cutting out treats completely. Or making sure that they are getting a good ration before they get anything else.

 

[aart]

The trouble with the girls is they will eat the green and veg before eating layers pellets which leads them to then randomly lau soft shell eggs outside in the run.

Then don't give them anything but layer feed(it's meant to be the sole ration anyway).
Or maybe add a separate small feeder with oyster shell in it.

corn in the evenings as their treat and also to aid their body temps overnight in the colder months (not sure if that's true..)

It's not, really.
Filling their crops before roosting time(a normal thing they do)
with regular feed will keep them plenty warm

 

[placidsheep]

The eating too much 'treats' thing is managed by them only having a small amount of treats in the afternoon just about an hour before they go to roost.

But this is a journey for us with our girls as we are new to having chickens. This thread wasn't so much about what and when our chickens should have treats as we are running them just fine as we are...it was more looking to see if anyone has automated their chickens beyond just having say automatic doors etc.

I do appreciate some of the advice given. And we will continue to vary the treats they have with some veg rather than it always being mixed corn. As I said though the management of their diet is fine since we have discovered the reason for randomly laying soft shell eggs in their run, and we no longer have those issues.

We just wanted to automate the treat feeding so they are in fact filling up with the layers pellets before having their treat.