Grandpa's Feeders Automatic Chicken Feeder - Large Size for 12 Chickens for 10 Days (40lb Feed) Long Lasting Galvanized Steel Poultry Feeders - Rat Proof & No Spill with Weatherproof Lid

Does what it should but not that easy to train.

*****UPDATE***** I now have 13 chickens and have been using this feeder for a long time. The feeder is holding up well despite heavy use. It still prevents rodents from getting to the food, and it keeps the rain out. No rusting so far. I have been able to easily teach the new chickens how to use it (or rather my existing chickens taught the new chickens how to use it).I have 9 chickens and was feeding daily before purchasing this feeder. My chickens would waste a ton of food with my old feeder by scattering it on the ground, and it was attracting rats. Once I purchased this, I haven't had to buy as much food because it has a grate inside that helps prevent the chickens from scattering food everywhere. The food is secure, so rodents can't get to it (they are too light to trigger the feeder to open), which is a plus. My chickens were skeptical of the feeder at first because it does make a little noise when it opens, and they were not used to the moving parts. I followed the provided instructions to get the chickens use to the feeder in phases. First, you use the provided bolts to keep the feeder door propped open for a while. Next, you adjust the bolts so that it allows the feeder door to move a little to get the chickens use to the movement. The final step is to remove the bolts, which allows the feeder door to fully close and just be triggered by chickens stepping on the feeder step. Within a few weeks, my chickens were fully adjusted to the feeder and using it like pros. I have saved so much time and money because of this thing. It is a bit expensive, but in my opinion, worth the investment. It seems like it will last me many years.

I had a bad rat problem! Bad! So bad that I would be watching out of the window in the middle of the day and see at least 30 to 40 rats run across the yard to my chicken coop and eat from my feed bowls. The rats dug holes under my coop, chewed through my siding, and just damaged everything. Not to mention the pounds of feed I was losing. I was filling my feed bowls 5 times a day just to make sure my chickens could eat. I tried hanging feeders and rat traps but I just couldn't keep up with the hordes of rats. Something HAD to be done. So I bought a Grandpa's feeder. I bought a small one because I was poor at the time and I bought a Ratinator rat trap that could catch up to 25 rats at a time. The feeder held 15 pounds of food and my chickens, ducks, and goose learned how to use it fairly quickly.Within 3 days I was able to remove the bolt that propped open the feeder and they were all using the feeder with no issues. Thankfully the rats were NOT able to use it. Although they tried. And they tried chewing through it but the metal feeder was sturdy enough that they couldn't get through it. So now that their food was cut off I set the rat trap and caught 116 rats in less than 3 months.I have a flock of 15 chickens, 14 ducks and 1 goose so I needed a bigger feeder so I bought the 40lb feeder. I only have to fill it once a week and with the rats mostly gone my flock is happier and healthier. I still have the occasional rat that shows up but without free access to feed the population stays manageable. My feed stays dry and clean, my flock can access their food at their leisure and even in Washington State's perpetual rainy season the food doesn't get wet. I did put a piece of indoor outdoor carpeting on the treadle as I was worried about slipping in winter.One issue I did find is that when I had baby chicks they tend to climb in the feeder and the lid will close on them if their mom leaves the feeding treadle so just be careful if you have babies. They do learn to use the feeders though from their moms and all of my new chickens have also learned from watching the older flock members on how to feed from these without me having to use the training bolts again.The smaller feeder I ended up putting with my drake flock since they are separated from the hens when it's breeding season and the rest of the flock has the larger feeder. I split the drake feeder with a barrier and put rabbit food on one side and flock raiser on the other and my rabbit has learned to use this feeder as well. His food stays dry and clean and he has free access that he can't knock over when he starts zooming around the yard. I plan on buying more of these once I move as I will be separating my flock into separate groups and I want to keep using these feeders.Definitely saved me money in lost feed and time in not having to constantly filling feed bowls.

This is worth the money. The training stages provide the chickens the perfect path to learning the use of the feeder. The bigger one holds enough feed for a couple of weeks and then some for a dozen chickens. It was fairly easy to assemble and assembly is not my strong suit, but the video is easy to follow. The only complaint I would have (maybe has to do with my assembly skills) is that is clunks down making a noise when the metal hits the metal. It can be heard from across the yard. I was afraid it may scare the chickens from using it, but it didn't. It saves feed from being wasted, allows owners to be away for a couple of days without paying a neighbor to feed the chickens, and keeps rodents from eating the food.

A bit loud when the top closes and the chickens keep ripping the pads off! Will have to figure out a permanent solution.

My 10-year-old Grandson and I got tired of having to remind him every day, "Did you check the chickens?" Which means collecting eggs and feeding them. We have 7 layers, Highland Cross. Each of them averages about 300 eggs a year. Fill up Grampa's Feeder and check it every 5 or 6 days. Now his mom just says, "Go get eggs for breakfast." Much less hassle.

I admittedly didn't use this in a timely manner but I cant imagine this problem comes with age. I bought this feeder in 2023 and then didn't end up buying chickens until this year. I'm setting up my run to let my chickens out next week and finally put this outside. It rained once and now its covered in rust. I can't imagine that will be good for my chickens so now ill have to find another solution. Total waste of money.