'Rodent Proof' Chicken Feeder

As you can see, this month, we introduced our chickens to a new pellet feeder, the blue barrel. We did this for one simple reason, rats.

We noticed these pesky vermin coming to feast at night, so I looked online for a feeder considered 'rodent proof', or at least something to discourage them. Our old conventional feeder had food just sitting there on display at all times. The nighttime camera trap footage showed rats running wild enjoying the free bonanza. Definitely not ideal! 

After some careful research, I settled on this raised barrel design, commonly used by gamekeepers to raise pheasant. The barrel possesses a little leaver dangling just underneath it, called a 'Trigger Happy' feeder system. When a chicken pecks the leaver, a few pellets sprinkle to the ground. 

The chickens just love foraging for the fallen pellets. This means there is never a pile of uneaten pellets lying around below the feeder. The sanitary nature of this system is doing wonders to counter the rats.

You might be wondering how I trained the chickens to use the leaver. To be honest, it was surprisingly easy. I tied an ear of wheat, from our own harvest, to the leaver itself with some twine. I'm pleased to say some of our own twine, heehee. The chickens absolutely love ears of wheat, painstakingly pecking out each individual wheat kernel with relish. 

With the ear tantalising dangling there tied to the leaver, our domanent hen immediately tucked into the treat. When doing so, she was shocked to discover further 'manna from heaven' raining down from above. I could almost see the little spark of understanding flashing through her mind. She very quickly made the connection between leaver and food. The others just followed the leader. By the end of the day, all four of our lovely girls were adept leaver pullers. A joy to witness.