Dine-A-Chook Waste-Reducing Chicken Feeder Guide
Waste-Reducing Chicken Feeder Ultimate Guide
Dine-A-Chook is a proud Australian family-owned company, committed to providing top-quality products for backyard chicken keepers.
Our premium chicken feeders are designed by chicken farmers for chicken farmers, addressing common flaws in other feeders. By choosing a Dine-A-Chook feeder, you're investing in performance and durability. Our waste-reducing feed hopper starts saving you money immediately, preventing wasted feed and helping to rat-proof your coop.
What is the best feed to use in a chicken feeder?
Two elements create the ultimate waste-reducing feeder:
- The type of feed you use.
- The design and engineering of the feeder itself.
If you feed chickens a scratch of seed/grain mix, they pick out what they like and leave the rest. While seed/grain mix is cheap at the store, the uneaten feed soon adds up as an expensive waste. Investing a bit more in pellet, layer mash, or crumble mix prevents selective feeding behaviour, ensuring your money isn't wasted.
The design of a truly waste-reducing feeder ensures your good quality pellet or crumble feed doesn't end up on the ground for rodents instead of the chooks. The Dine-A-Chook feeders have 10 years of design and engineering behind them to prevent feed on the ground. Our silo-inspired tube feeder with patented design interior paddles prevents chickens from thrashing the feed out of the feeder, helping to rat-proof your coop. Our patented rain hood and gutter also prevent feed from getting wet. No wet feed means no wasted feed.
Combining the correct feed and the Dine-A-Chook feeder almost eliminates wasted money and feed.
How to install a Dine-A-Chook No Waste Chicken Feeder?
Installing your Dine-A-Chook Feeder is easy. Everything you need to mount the feeder in almost any situation is supplied in the complementary Dine-A-Chook Mounting Kit.
Mounting your feeder using the in-built mounting hooks:
The Dine-A-Chook Chicken Feeder has 3 moulded rear hooks. Only two hooks are required to mount the feeder. We suggest using the top and bottom hooks. These hooks mount the feeder directly in many modern chicken coops. If the wire mesh or other support isn't strong enough, you may need a timber or steel post.
Mounting your feeder using the complementary Mounting Kit:
If you cannot mount your feeder using the hooks, we provide a Mounting Kit containing steel brackets and screws. The steel brackets fit the mounting hooks on the feeder's body. Screws can be used with a standard drill bit to fix the brackets to either wood or metal surfaces.
- Hold the brackets onto the top and bottom mounting hooks and situate your feeder at the correct height.
- Mark the bracket locations or hold the top bracket in place and remove the feeder.
- Screw the bracket into place and repeat with the second bracket. Your feeder is ready to go!
How high off the ground should my feeder be?
Our feeders are designed to be mounted at “chicken height” for best results. This allows the patented design to prevent spillage and may also deter rodents, mice and wild birds more effectively, helping to vermin-proof your chicken coop.
Obviously, chicken height will vary depending on breed. We recommend the feeder be mounted level with the back of the bird's neck in order to allow comfortable feeding - this will be somewhere between 100 and 150 mm above the floor. In flocks of different breeds, you need to mount the feeder so it is accessible to the smallest bird. In such cases, a second feeder mounted for larger birds is recommended. If you find that birds struggle to access the feeder, it may need to be lowered by 1-2 cm.
If you have a severe rodent infestation, we recommend that you install your chicken feeder above chicken height and provide a “step” for chickens, such as a brick of block, to allow them to access the feed.
Where should I install my Chicken Feeder?
Although Dine-A-Chook Feeders are designed to be as water-tight and weather-proof as possible, we recommend installation in a sheltered area where practical.
Installation inside the chicken coop rather than in the run or yard will ensure that feed is better protected from rain and weather.
If installing in a position that will receive heavy rain, do not worry. My 3 feeders constantly cop heavy downpours here in North Queensland. I am always happy to see how effective the rain gutter is. Mind you, I did spend many hours perfecting it!
How often do I need to fill my Dine-A-Chook Feeder?
The amount of feed consumed by your chickens will determine how often your feeder needs to be refilled.
As a general guide, our 3.5 Litre Feeder will feed 4 chickens for 4 days, while our 4.7 Litre Feeder will feed 6 chooks for 4 days.
However, the amount of feed consumed by your chickens will vary depending on their age and breed, as well as the time of year, so you should check your feeder regularly until a feeding pattern has been established.
How much feed should be in the feeder?
Dine-A-Chook Chicken Feeders function perfectly regardless of how much feed is in them.
Now go and enjoy watching your chickens with their new Dine-A-Chook Automatic Waste-Reducing Chicken Feeder.
Cheers
Ryan Biggin
