CLUCK TIPS: Ingenious Treadle Feeders Protect Chicken Feed and Minimize Waste

One goal with coop design is finding a way to feed the birds that minimizes waste and reduces the likelihood that anything other than chickens will end up eating the food. That saves on food and thwarts hungry vermin. Chickens like to vigorously swing their heads from side to side as they sort through pellets or grain looking for the choicest morsels. The result can be a lot of far-flung waste. Many feeders seek to minimize this by having the food level recessed and a lip that reduces scatter. That helps with waste but doesn't secure the food from other hungry grain eaters. The ultimate design therefore would allow chickens to feed but not other animals. The most common solution is to use the chicken's body weight to open the feeder since songbirds, mice, etc weigh less than chickens. This is obviously an in-coop solution since raccoons could easily learn to press the treadle for food if they could access it.