Rural Gardening: How Do I Feed My Chicks in This Contraption??, 1 by greenhouse_gal

greenhouse_gal wrote:
We have an absolutely lovely chicken tractor that we bought from Randall-Burkey and assembled with much sweat and gnashing of teeth. We are using the feed troughs and watering system from our Universal Box Brooder, hanging them inside instead of outside as the brooder was set up, by using the holes on the perforated side to suspend them. The watering system from the brooder is great and works beautifully, but now that the chicks are getting bigger, when I open the lid to fill the troughs they try to fly out. Even if I just open it enough to insert the pail and the scoop, and to sneak my upper torso in so I can manipulate the scoop, with the lid resting on my back, they will still sometimes escape, and besides, it's really hard on my back (and arms, and shoulders, and head.....) I tried inserting a funnel from the outside and pouring through one of the holes just over the trough, but that didn't work well and when the older chickens are out in the yard they fight me for the food, of course. How would you feed chicks in a contraption like this?

Other than that (other than what has become the main hassle in my whole day) the tractor works beautifully. We bought it to replace an old wooden, tin and corrugated plastic one that DH built but that was just too heavy to move easily. This one is light and I can move it around myself, but they forgot to design it so you could feed the critters that you keep in it!

The picture shows the tractor with the waterer (it's a five-gallon bucket with a hose at the bottom, to give you a sense of size). The piece of wood sticking out on the left is to indicate the lid and how it opens. The other side opens too but because those walls are solid I can't hang the troughs there.