Automatic treadle feeders

[LadyA]

I may have called it a suet block as it looks like the wild bird blocks I put out. Just checked it...it is a forage feeder cake, so no suet in there. It is specifically for chickens. Phew!

https://shop.bhwt.org.uk/products/hentastic-foraging-cake

Often, they need to get used to something before daring to try it. I once put out a cooked butternut squash skin, with some squash left in it, for a batch of hens. They all ran, screaming, to the very far end of the pen! After about an hour, the bravest (greediest) hen came sneaking up through the shrubbery, like a soldier crawling through the undergrowth, neck stretched out. She did a reconnoitre all the way around the squash shell, before taking a tentative peck. Then she dove into it, gobbling as much as she could! The others, realising that she wasn't being killed, and was in fact having a treat of some kind, came running, and the squash skin was stripped clean in minutes!

 

[Tweetypie]

LAdyA, that's so funny, made me chuckle. Mine didn't even bother to look at the contraption, not even an inquisive sniff... they seem to prefer digging in the soil or eating grass. I've left it hanging in the enclosed coop area, away from wild birds, see how it goes.

 

[Marigold]

I always save the last few grapes on the bunch for the hens once they've got a bit manky for humans. Yesterday I had 10 grapes, 2 each. I put 4 grapes into the end of the run with the two previous hens and they were gone in a flash. The other 6 grapes sat on the feeding plate and the new girls just sniffed at them and ignored them. They did disappear later on, though.