6 Best Plastic Feeders For Chicks In Brooders That Prevent Feed Waste
Reduce feed waste and save money with the right brooder equipment. We review the 6 best plastic chick feeders designed to prevent spillage and keep feed clean.
You fill the chick feeder to the brim, and within an hour, half the crumble is scattered across the brooder bedding. It’s not just wasted money; it’s a mess that can attract moisture and lead to health problems. Every hobby farmer faces this frustrating cycle with new chicks. The solution isn’t just accepting the waste—it’s choosing the right tool for the job.
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Choosing a Brooder Feeder to Reduce Spillage
The biggest culprits of feed waste are the chicks themselves. Their instinct is to scratch and forage, which means they’ll happily kick feed everywhere if you let them. They also "bill out" feed, sorting through it with their beaks and flicking pieces aside.
To combat this, look for feeders with specific design features. Small, individual feeding holes or a narrow trough with a divider grid are essential. These features allow a chick to get its head in to eat but prevent it from getting its feet in to scratch.
Another critical feature is an anti-roosting design. Chicks love to perch on anything and everything, and a flat-topped feeder is a prime spot. This leads to droppings contaminating the feed. Look for feeders with a sloped top, a spinning "reel," or a flip-top that’s uncomfortable to stand on. Plastic is the material of choice here; it’s lightweight, won’t rust, and is incredibly easy to scrub clean and sanitize between batches of chicks.
Little Giant Flip-Top: Simple and Effective
This is the classic, no-frills brooder feeder that many of us start with. It’s a long, narrow trough with a plastic or metal top that has openings spaced along its length. The top piece flips open, making it incredibly fast and easy to fill.
The design is effective because the individual openings prevent chicks from standing in the feed and scratching it out. It allows a large number of chicks to eat simultaneously, which reduces competition and frantic behavior. You can find them in various lengths to match the size of your flock.
However, it’s not perfect. A determined chick can still flick a surprising amount of feed out of the openings. And while the top isn’t a super comfortable perch, some chicks will inevitably figure out how to roost on it, so you still have to watch for droppings. It’s a fantastic, affordable option for the first couple of weeks.
Harris Farms Jar Feeder: Easy to Fill and Clean
The jar feeder, also called a quail feeder by some, is a brilliant design for its simplicity. It consists of a plastic base with small feeding ports that screws onto a standard one-quart mason jar. You fill the jar, screw on the base, and flip it over; gravity keeps the tray filled to the perfect level.
This design excels at keeping feed clean. The feed reservoir is completely sealed inside the jar, protected from bedding and droppings. The small, sectioned feeding trough makes it very difficult for chicks to bill out or scratch feed. Cleaning is also a breeze—the base is a single piece of plastic, and the glass jar can be sanitized easily.
The main tradeoff is capacity and stability. A one-quart jar doesn’t hold a ton of feed once you have more than a dozen chicks past their first week. They can also be a bit top-heavy, so you need to make sure it’s on a stable, level surface where it won’t get knocked over by a rambunctious flock.
RentACoop Port Feeder: Ultimate Waste Prevention
If your primary goal is to eliminate feed waste, this is your feeder. Instead of an open trough, this design uses a container—often a bucket or box—with specialized feeding ports installed in the side. Chicks stick their heads through the port to eat.
This system makes it physically impossible for chicks to scratch feed out with their feet. It also dramatically reduces billing, as they can’t get the leverage to flick feed around. The result is virtually zero feed on the brooder floor. This feeder will pay for itself in saved feed, especially if you’re raising more than a few chicks.
The only real downside is the initial learning curve. It might take your chicks a day to figure out the ports, so keep their old feeder in for 24 hours to ensure a smooth transition. You must also get the height right; the bottom of the port should be level with their backs. Too low, and they’ll kick bedding in; too high, and they can’t reach.
Miller Snap-Top Feeder: Prevents Roosting
Think of the Miller Snap-Top as an evolution of the classic flip-top. It features a similar long trough design with feeding holes, but instead of a simple flip-top, it has a solid plastic lid that snaps securely in place. The lid is often rounded or steeply sloped.
That sloped top is the key innovation. It makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for chicks to perch on top of the feeder. This single feature completely solves the problem of droppings contaminating the feed supply, which is a major win for chick health and brooder hygiene.
Compared to a flip-top, it’s slightly less convenient to fill since you have to pop the entire lid off rather than just flipping one side. However, the improved sanitation and secure lid—which won’t get knocked open—make it a worthwhile upgrade for anyone tired of cleaning poop off their feeder.
Brower Plastic Feeder: Grows with Your Flock
The Brower feeder is built for the long haul. It’s typically a larger, more robust trough feeder that often comes with adjustable legs. You can start with the feeder sitting directly on the brooder floor and then attach the legs and raise it as your chicks grow into pullets.
This feeder’s main advantage is its versatility and lifespan. Instead of buying a small brooder feeder, then a medium one, then a large one for the coop, you can potentially use this single feeder from day one through adolescence. It usually features a wire guard and a reel-top to prevent both scratching and roosting.
Because of its larger size and capacity, this feeder is best suited for those raising larger batches of chicks, say 25 or more. For a small flock of six backyard birds, it can be overkill, taking up too much valuable real estate in a small brooder. It’s an investment in efficiency for a slightly larger-scale operation.
Premier 1 Supplies Reel-Top Feeder for Chicks
The reel-top is another classic and highly effective anti-roosting design. This feeder is an open trough, but a thin rod or "reel" is mounted above the center. The reel is designed to spin freely.
The mechanism is simple genius. When a chick attempts to jump on top of the feeder, its feet land on the reel. The reel spins, and the chick is gently and harmlessly dumped back onto the floor. After a few tries, they learn that the feeder is not a suitable perch.
This design keeps the feed exceptionally clean from droppings. Paired with a wire divider over the trough, it also helps reduce scratching. While it doesn’t stop billing waste as effectively as a port feeder, it completely solves the roosting problem, making it a top contender for maintaining a hygienic brooder environment.
Feeder Placement and Tips to Reduce Feed Loss
Even the best feeder can be undermined by poor placement. Always keep the lip of the feeder level with the height of the chicks’ backs. This makes it comfortable for them to eat but difficult to kick their feet up and scratch feed out. As they grow, use small blocks of wood or pavers to elevate the feeder.
Don’t overfill your feeders. A feeder that is only half-full offers much less material for the chicks to bill out onto the floor. It might mean you fill it slightly more often, but the feed savings are significant. If you have a lot of chicks, use multiple feeders rather than one giant one to reduce crowding and competitive, wasteful eating.
Finally, avoid placing feeders directly under the heat source. This is where chicks tend to nap and congregate, leading to more droppings in the area. Placing the feeder a little ways off encourages movement and helps keep the feed and water areas cleaner.
Choosing the right feeder isn’t about finding a single "perfect" product, but about matching the design to your goals. Whether you prioritize zero waste, ease of cleaning, or scalability, there’s a plastic feeder that fits the bill. A small investment upfront in a well-designed feeder pays dividends in saved feed, less time cleaning, and healthier, happier chicks.
