I bought a Grandpa’s Feeder awhile ago for the chickens, then found out they weren’t big enough to operate the opener yet. So it sat in its box for a couple months. Now at well over two pounds they are big enough! (They really only had to be 14 ounces. Oops.)

There are three stages to train chickens to use the feeder. The first stage holds the lid of the feed area open with no movement. This stage lasts a week. We started this stage and Cloud was my brave chicken; the first to eat from the feeder! I put mealworms in there on top of the feed, so there was definite incentive.

I noticed as the other chickens started to try it, that they were reaching in from the side and not standing on the treadle. The instructions say to block the sides with a box or something similar to keep this from happening. A box would block the coop door, but I have a bunch of temporary fence stakes, so I pounded one in on each side. Those long necked chickens could still reach around, so I added another stake. That did it! Now they all stand on the treadle to eat. I added some more bricks too so there is a step up.

The next stage is allowing some movement with the treadle and lid. I’ll see if I need to expand my brick area and how long it takes for the chickens to get used to the movement. But I have a few days before I worry about that! Then another week before we try full movement.