how do you prevent rodents and birds from getting in feed?

[micstrachan]

That is the magic question, isn’t it? I put the feed away most nights (though it’s crumble and my flock leaves a need), and my neighbor has a bunch of cats, so rodents don’t seem to be a problem.
However, I’ve redone the entire run with 1/2 inch hardware cloth except for the top on one half and a flock of juncos will NOT stay out. One of these weekends I’ll get ‘er done. It’s driving me crazy!

 

[Beer can]

I think fermenting the feed helps, thieves seem to not be as interested, mines mostly chipmunks and small birds, chipmunks being the worst, no feeder modifications can fool them.
Other than that ( pellet rifle cuts down on the thievery )

 

[HarleyHunt]

we have been working on this for a while and nothing,not even shiny things in the tree for the birds,will keep the wildlife out of our babies feeders.does any one know how to do this on a school day schedule?and without spending too much?and I don't want to kill them because it seems like they depend on us in the winter,the birds I mean,and yes we habve bird feeders.

We use a large net to keep other birds out of our chickens pen, maybe something like this could help?

 

[HarleyHunt]

This is our net

 

[glib]

It is well known that keeping also guinea fowl with the chickens solves the mice or vole problem. The "feed" then becomes "bait".

 

[GoodwinFarm]

We used to have problems with mice eating food when we used the feeders you can buy at farm/fleet. I transitioned to a peckomatic which only drops food when a chicken pushes against the feed disk and it only drops a small amount. This decreased our rodent problem tremendously. I also have treadle feeders which helped, but my current crop of ladies can't figure out how to use the treadle feeder.