Warning: Chickens got squashed/died by treadle feeder

[newbiechickenmamma11]

Hi all, first time chicken mama here who has been trying really hard and being overcautious about everything while raising chicks. I had two 14 week old chickens die yesterday after my treadle feeder fell on its side and squashed them flat. It was so very sad. They were small for their age (the rest of my flock of same age is much bigger).

The treadle feeder was large, tall and heavy with a large base, so I didn't think it'd ever fall sideways. However, my chicken run is a deep litter system with wood mulch. What I believe has happened is that the other chickens were digging holes (which they have been doing to dust bathe) around the edge of the treadle feeder, causing it to tip over. Though I can't figure out how big of a hole they could possibly have dug to cause it to happen. Either way, it's tragically happened.

I have now put the treadle feeder on a large square paver and hope it will stop it from happening again, and wanted to warn others to make sure to put similar feeders on a paver, especially if the litter on the ground is soft. I didn't know to do this or think it would ever happen. Hopefully it will stop such a thing from happening to someone else.

I have attached a photo of the treadle feeder I have. Still can't believe it happened.

 

[casportpony]

I am so sorry for your loss

 

[OrpingtonManiac]

I'm sorry for your losses

 

[CrazyForMyPeeps802]

I'm sorry for your losses. Sending healing hugs. Hopefully this information will help others prevent tragedy.

 

[Newchickmomm]

I would still be crying! I’m so sorry for your loss!

 

[Altairsky]

My treadle feeder is taller with a small base and it can tip even more easily than yours. I always put it above a layer of bricks to give it a stable base. If it laid on the litter my ladies would tip it multiple times a day.

 

[Al Gerhart]

This is why we always warn customers in the instructions to attach the treadle feeder to a wall or post and we provide a french cleat style bracket for that purpose. Patio blocks are great as a base but feeders still need secured to a wall or post or put some cleats under it that the feeder can be fastened to with the cleats being fastened to a large chunk of plywood that is securely staked down to the ground.

That feeder is top heavy to start with, see the side fasteners, you can tell that the bottom of the feed tray is three to four inches off the ground which is quite stupid if you don't want the feeder to be tipping over. Did they provide a bracket to secure it to a wall? The treadle is too wide and that kind of feeder doesn't have anyway to pre load tension on the doors so rats just push the door open when they figure out where the feed is.

For now, if you have no way to securely fasten the feeder to the wall, take a heavy patio block and place it on top of the lid. That makes it much harder to tip over.

It is sad to see chickens killed by a product bought to make them safer. There is never zero risk but this happened because a manufacturer never raised chickens or never used his own product in his own coop

 

[newbiechickenmamma11]

This is why we always warn customers in the instructions to attach the treadle feeder to a wall or post and we provide a french cleat style bracket for that purpose. Patio blocks are great as a base but feeders still need secured to a wall or post or put some cleats under it that the feeder can be fastened to with the cleats being fastened to a large chunk of plywood that is securely staked down to the ground.

That feeder is top heavy to start with, see the side fasteners, you can tell that the bottom of the feed tray is three to four inches off the ground which is quite stupid if you don't want the feeder to be tipping over. Did they provide a bracket to secure it to a wall? The treadle is too wide and that kind of feeder doesn't have anyway to pre load tension on the doors so rats just push the door open when they figure out where the feed is.

For now, if you have no way to securely fasten the feeder to the wall, take a heavy patio block and place it on top of the lid. That makes it much harder to tip over.

It is sad to see chickens killed by a product bought to make them safer. There is never zero risk but this happened because a manufacturer never raised chickens or never used his own product in his own coop

Hi thanks for sharing. The feeder does not come with a bracket to secure to a wall, and thanks for pointing out it is top heavy - I did not realise this, that makes a bit more sense now how it could have tipped, as when it had fallen there wasn't really that big of a hole on its side, and the entire unit with food would have weighed at least 10kg

I will be taking measures to do additional securing to the wall - thank you for that recommendation. Can you clarify what you mean by the preload tension on the doors / what does that look like? As one of the reasons why I got this feeder was to help prevent rats opening.

It happens to be a popular design where I am, and I liked it as the opening went inwards rather than outwards, as this felt safer for my chickens (that the door wouldn't close on their necks by accident). So sad for my chickens. Oh well.

 

[Al Gerhart]

I was able to find other pictures, chooktread, an Aussie product or they say it was developed in AU. That is a balance driven treadle feeder, the weight of the feed door with the axle set high, balances out the weight of the treadle itself. Doesn't appear to have a set of springs to pre load the door.

Pre load is where you add some pressure to act upon something before an outside force begins to act upon it. Example, concrete bridge beams that have heavy cables inside that are jacked or shortened, causing a lot of tension that puts a bit of an arch in the beam to lessen any sagging. It also removes some of the slack, puts a lot of tension on the cable so any stretch is taken out before the beam is placed on the piers to carry a heavy load.

Or an automatic/hydraulic door closer that requires a bit of pull before the door swings open, preventing gusts of wind from slamming the door open.

In this case, on a treadle feeder, you have the spring pulling the door shut so that a rat cannot just push the door open and steal feed instead of standing on the treadle. Originally on our feeder we had no spring, only a counterweight pulling the door closed. But sometimes the door was a bit twisted like sheet metal often is and one corner wouldn't pull tight. So we added a spring on the door crank pulling up which made the feeder even harder for a rat to open. Eventually we added a soft close version and the spring was in the way so at one point we moved the spring to the front cover in a series of vertical holes for the spring to hook into, then we moved the spring inside the feeder into a series of holes to allow some adjustment which had the extra bonus of putting all of the spring pressure directly on the door instead of allowing some leverage when hooked on the door crank.

Then the soft close worked far better and eventually we went to a threaded bolt that allows ten times the adjustment in infinite amounts.

So the idea is to have the door pressing against the front flange of the feeder, requiring more than a few ounces of pressure before the door starts moving. Our original spring was better than anything out there at the time but we found that pressure from a spring isn't linear, the first bit of stretching of the spring provided less pressure than after the spring was stretched out an inch or so.

Doesn't take too many ounces of back pressure/pre load to defeat a rat or even a squirrel. In your case, if the rats haven't figured out they can push the door open you might stay lucky and they leave before they figure it out.

In your feeder, it would need springs going from the top of the door back into the very top of the feeder. I don't think it could be retrofitted. They probably thought no one else pre loaded doors, or that they could just bluff the rodents out by putting the feed out of sight, or they were concerned about someone's pet hen getting her head trapped if the door closed too securely.

So like most things in life, pick your poison. Make a feeder that is safer but less effective, or go for the most rat proof feeder possible. Someone would be less pissed off with spending $225.00 plus shipping for a feeder that didn't work than having a feeder that did work but killed five chickens out of a thousand that used it. Like I said, the risks with rodents and wild birds is many times that but bad mouthing a pack of rats is different than posting a bad review of a product. So many manufactures take the cautious route.

Securing your feeder. You mostly need side to side protection. Something as simple as some metal plumbers tape across the front would stop the tipping. Better if you could fasten something like a 2 x 4 board to the wall with screws, then put screws through the back of the feeder into the 2 x 4 block. One or two is plenty. It will have the bonus of absorbing more vibration and shock when the treadle is used, shaking less feed down into the lower feed tray and lessening any feed raking.

 

[Bawkbok]

I'm sorry this happened to your birds. What a tragic way to die and for you to find them like that.
Thanks for sharing so others with these types of feeders can be educated as well.
Hugs to you.