7 Choosing Chicken Feeders For Chicks For First-Year Success
The right chick feeder is key to first-year success. Learn how to choose a design that prevents feed waste and keeps your flock’s food clean and safe.
The first thing you’ll notice about day-old chicks is how fragile they seem, and how quickly that changes. One day they’re peeping fluffballs, and the next they’re ravenous, messy teenagers. Choosing the right feeder at the right stage is one of the most critical, yet overlooked, factors for a successful first year.
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Little Giant Trough: The Perfect Day-One Feeder
That classic red plastic trough feeder is a staple in brooders for a reason. Its low profile makes it incredibly easy for tiny, wobbly chicks to find and access their food. On day one, you want zero barriers between a chick and its first meal.
The downside is equally obvious: they will walk in it, sleep in it, and poop in it. They will also kick pine shavings into it with surprising enthusiasm. This isn’t a long-term solution; it’s a short-term tool for the crucial first 7-10 days. Plan on cleaning it out daily, sometimes more, to ensure the feed stays fresh and sanitary.
Harris Farms Jar Feeder for Growing Appetites
Once your chicks are a week or two old, they’re more confident and mobile. This is the perfect time to graduate to a screw-on jar feeder, often used with a standard quart-sized Mason jar. This simple upgrade elevates the feed just enough to keep most of the bedding and droppings out.
The main benefit here is improved hygiene without a steep learning curve for the birds. The clear jar also gives you an instant visual on the feed level, which is helpful for monitoring their rapidly increasing consumption. The limitation is capacity; with a dozen fast-growing chicks, you’ll be refilling a quart jar daily. It’s an excellent transitional feeder for the brooder but won’t last you into the pullet stage.
K&H Pet Products Feeder Ring to Reduce Feed Waste
Chickens are inherently wasteful eaters. They use their beaks to rake through feed, flinging a surprising amount onto the floor where it gets mixed with bedding and ignored. This behavior, called "billing out," starts early and can waste up to 30% of your feed.
A feeder ring is a simple plastic insert that sits inside a round feeder, creating individual ports for the chicks to eat from. This small change physically prevents them from raking feed out. It’s an inexpensive add-on that can be used with jar feeders or larger bucket-style systems.
While it’s an extra piece to buy and clean, the feed savings add up quickly. The return on investment is often realized within the first bag of feed. It’s one of those small, smart investments that makes a real difference in the long run, especially with rising feed costs.
The DIY PVC Feeder: A Customizable, Low-Cost Option
For the hobbyist who likes a good project, a DIY feeder made from PVC pipe is a fantastic option. The design is simple: a vertical reservoir pipe holds the feed, which flows down into a "wye" or elbow fitting at the bottom for access. This approach offers several distinct advantages.
First, it’s highly customizable. You can make it as tall as you need, dramatically increasing feed capacity and reducing daily chores. Second, it keeps the feed exceptionally clean and dry. Finally, it’s incredibly cost-effective, often costing less than a comparable store-bought feeder. The main tradeoff is the need for basic tools—a saw to cut the pipe and PVC cement to join the fittings. This is a weekend project that pays dividends for years.
Brower Galvanized Trough for Cleaner Chick Feed
A galvanized steel trough feeder is the durable, long-lasting cousin of the plastic day-one feeder. Its real advantage comes from two key features: the material and the design. Steel is non-porous and far easier to scrub and sanitize than plastic, which can harbor bacteria in tiny scratches over time.
Most importantly, these feeders include a spinning bar or "reel" across the top. This simple mechanism prevents chicks from roosting on the edge of the feeder and contaminating their food with droppings. This makes it an excellent choice for the 3-to-8-week-old phase when chicks are big enough to perch but not yet ready for a large hanging feeder. It’s a workhorse feeder that keeps feed cleaner with minimal effort.
RentACoop Hanging Feeder for the Pullet Stage
As your chicks grow into pullets and prepare to move into the main coop, hanging their feeder is a non-negotiable step. Lifting the feeder off the ground accomplishes several critical goals at once:
- It stops birds from kicking bedding and dirt into their food.
- It discourages rodents and other pests from accessing the feed.
- It forces the birds to stand while eating, which further reduces waste from raking.
The key to a hanging feeder is adjustability. You want the lip of the feeder to be at about the height of the birds’ backs. As they grow, you’ll need to raise the chain a link or two. A good hanging feeder is a long-term investment that will serve your flock well into adulthood, promoting better coop hygiene and saving money on wasted feed.
RentACoop Feeder Ports for a DIY Bucket System
For those seeking maximum capacity and minimal waste, feeder ports are a game-changer. These are specially designed plastic ports that you install into the side of a 5-gallon bucket or other container. The bird sticks its head into the port to eat, which makes it virtually impossible to spill or rake out feed.
This is the ultimate DIY system for efficiency. A single 5-gallon bucket can hold over 20 pounds of feed, meaning you might only need to refill it once a week instead of once a day. The ports also protect the feed from rain, making this an excellent choice for an outdoor run. The only requirement is a drill and a hole saw bit of the correct size to install the ports, but the result is a near-perfect feeding system.
OverEZ Large Gravity Feeder for Long-Term Use
Sometimes, you just want a ready-made solution that works without any assembly or modification. A large-capacity gravity feeder, like those from OverEZ, is designed to be the final feeder your flock will need. These are typically made from durable, food-grade plastic and hold 50 pounds of feed or more.
The primary benefit is convenience and peace of mind. A feeder this large allows you to leave for a weekend without worrying about the flock running out of food. It’s a significant upfront investment compared to other options, but it eliminates the need to buy multiple feeders as your flock grows. Think of this as a "buy it once, cry it once" solution for the busy flock owner.
The best feeder isn’t a single product, but a strategy that adapts as your chicks grow. Starting with a simple trough, transitioning to a jar feeder, and finally moving to a waste-reducing system in the coop sets your flock up for a healthy and productive first year. By matching the feeder to their developmental stage, you solve problems before they start.
