Front view, new steel soft close frame in pictures below
Front view, new steel soft close frame in pictures below

Soft Close Medium Ratproof Chicken Feeder

review
4
0
5
Your Price: $100.00
Not for Sale.
Part Number:F-MEDSC

Why buy this product?:

Quiet soft close door! Stop the rats, wild birds, and other vermin from stealing your feed and spreading disease. Cut your feed bill in half!

Shipping info

Shipping rates have skyrocketed thanks to Amazon squeezing the three main carriers. For cheaper shipping use the multi pack. Or send us a label.

Videos available

The picture slide show to the left has a video of the feeder in use, check the small feeder and replacement parts listings for more videos

Is it hard to assemble?

Assembly will take a few common tools and about five minutes. More on assembly below in the tab section

Is it hard to train the chickens to use it?

If you follow our instructions training the birds takes a few minutes then a refresher coures a few hours later

This is an out of stock item but we left it up because it has some reviews.  Find the U.S. made medium soft close feeder in our listings, sells for $100.00 plus shipping.


Do you have chickens and rats? Or chickens and wild birds that are eating more feed than the chickens? Here is the solution. But before you buy look for the different versions of our feeder, this is the original version, there is a soft close version, an exterior version, and a soft close exterior version. There are also multi packed feeders that can lower the shipping costs down to as low as $12 to $20.00 each depending on how many and distance.

We have a lot of customer submitted videos too that show the feeders in use, most from customers with feeders that are two, even three years old.


This is the Philippines made  exterior soft close version of our original rat proof chicken feeder.    There have been thousands of the original feeders sold but one of the complaints was that the door closed so loudly and it delayed training for some flocks.  Now if people followed the training instructions the birds learned to use the feeder despite the noise and a lot of people remarked that the sound of the door closing allowed them to know that the feeders were working without having to go into the coop.  But people kept asking so we finally made a soft close version.  The soft close cylinder has been tested down to 9 degrees F and it showed little change in the closing speed at that temperature but sub zero weather might require re adjusting the cylinder screw or removing the cylinder screw until the weather gets back above 9 degrees.

There won't be many reviews for a while as this is a somewhat new item, only about one out of twenty customers will leave reviews even on purchases they liked, so please  read the reviews on the very popular medium feeder by clicking here.

The mechanism is a  cabinet door soft close cylinder mounted on a steel bracket. It is adjustable, the cylinder can be replaced should it ever wear out or fail,  and tweaking won't take five minutes once you have the tools gathered.  There is listing for a retro fit soft close kit in our Upgrade Kits and Parts category and it has a video showing how to install the soft close kit on a new or old feeder.  You will need a screwdriver with a Philip's bit, either manual or cordless, and you will need a crescent wrench to bend the door axle if it doesn't line up.  This feeder has the soft close kit already installed.  Be sure and watch the soft close kit install/retrofit video so you know how to install the soft close kit if you retrofit an older feeder.

The medium rat proof treadle chicken feeder hopper holds 26 pounds of laying pellets or other feed and has a 100% galvanized sheet metal feed tray and hopper so the feed flows easily and sanitation is assured. Generally a laying hen eats around 4 ounces of feed per day, so one pound of feed should feed four birds one day, 7 pounds per week per four birds, or 3 1/2 weeks per full hopper of feed for a four hen flock. The feeder is designed and marketed for full size birds.  If you have bantams or other than full size birds please read our FAQ section on our main website.    There is a lot of info on that web page including videos.

Approximate assembled size is 18” deep x 14” wide x 19” tall. The actual feeder hopper is about 11" x 10" x 14" tall, partially rectangular, partially triangular shape where the door has to swing back against the feed hopper.  Shipping weight is around 15 pounds with packaging for the medium rat proof treadle chicken feeder. When you are ready to purchase add the item to your cart and then scroll down to find the PayPal icon to automatically insert your shipping information. You will need to add your daytime phone number for FedEx Ground. For more information about the feeders visit our main chicken feeder web page

Here is one of the most recent reviews on this product.  The lady had rats tunneling under her coop causing structural damage, saved 20% per day in feed costs for 25 hens, and is getting three to four extra eggs per day, which probably meant that the rats were eating that many eggs or were stressing the hens enough to impact egg production.

Headline: Rats are gone!
Barb, Orange, VA
Review:

 I ordered 2 feeders. They're easy to assemble and look like they'll be easy to clean, although none of the birds are hanging out on top of them. I attached the wood mounting block to the back of the feeder and screwed two heavy-duty hooks into the top of the block. The hooks hang on the inside of the chain link fence that supports the open-air chicken coop. This causes the feeder to tilt forward a bit, so I'm planning to add a bumper near the bottom to correct the tilt.

 I recommend training the chickens when you can spend a few hours with them over two days. They were scared of the sound of the door closing and would run away. I stood in the coop and would catch a hen, place her on the treadle and let her eat. Then I'd remove her, let the door close, and place her back on the treadle. I did this repeatedly with all the brave girls and the not-so-brave girls would watch and then eat from the sides. When I saw one girl jump on the treadle, I left the coop. I repeated this the next day to make sure multiple girls were jumping on the treadle. Make sure there is no other food available because they won't learn if they're not motivated by hunger. I'm using finely-ground feed. I haven't had any issues with bridging, probably because the hens rock the feeder when they jump on the treadle. I'm feeding 25 birds with 2 feeders and all of them appear to be getting enough to eat.
I've seen 4 hens eating at the same time, but usually I see 3.

My coop recently became overrun by rats that dug through heavy clay under the apron of my coop. I think one or more got caught inside the coop when the automatic door closed so they spent the night digging out. The tunnels were causing structural damage because they tunneled under weight-bearing blocks. Judging by the extensive network of tunnels radiating 40-50 feet from the coop, there were many rats. I installed the rat-proof feeders and poison bait stations at the same time because rats will chew on the chickens' feet if they don't have anything else to eat. The feeders and bait stations have been in place for just over two weeks and we've noticed this past week that the tunnel entrances in the coop aren't active any more and are being filled in by the chickens scratching the dirt.

We're even getting 3-4 more eggs a day. I'm assuming the rats were stressing the chickens, which reduces egg output. I'm using 20% less feed and getting more eggs, so I'm very happy with the new feeders!

Rating: 5 stars out of 5 stars
5 Stars
Great Feeder
We bought this feeder to deter wild birds from coming into the chicken run to eat. From the minute I set it up and pushed the bar down to show them how it worked, the chickens caught on and it's been a wonderful investment. I didn't like to leave feed in the run overnight for fear of predators. Consequently, the chickens would wake up at 6A.M. and scream for us to let them out so they could forage. Now they have food available and don't wake us at all. There hasn't been a wild bird in the coop since. We're impressed with the design and happy that we purchased one.
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Reviewed by:  from Cincinnati. on 8/2/2020
5
4 Stars
Owner
My flock learned in one day. I did have to block the sides of the feeder to force the hens to approach from the front, forcing them to step onto the treadle. Once I did that, the bravest (hungriest) bird stepped up and ate. Others followed. Only issue I observed is that the lower on the pecking order hens had trouble getting past more aggressive birds. But, everyone is still laying, so I guess they are all getting a chance at the food.
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Reviewed by:  from Needles. on 3/12/2020
4
4 Stars
very rat proof
I have both the Carpenter Shop (C) and Grandpa's (G) Treadle Feeders. I have used them side by side with my flock of 40 free range layers for about 6 weeks. The C is much more rat proof because it takes more weight to operate the treadle and the treadle is farther away from the feed. But, those 2 reasons are also probably why the hens prefer the G. They eat twice as much feed from the G as the C. I am going to modify my G to increase the weight required to operate the treadle and modify the C to widen the treadle a little so the hens can stand on it flat footed, i.e. make it into the "duck" style treadle available as an option. I prefer the C because it is easier to fill and holds more feed. Imo, the quiet close is not worth the trouble. The C has been trouble free and the hens had no problem using it. As warned, "some assembly required". I have a Mr. FixIt husband, so had no problem with that factor.
Did you find this helpful?  3 of 3 Found Helpful
Reviewed by:  from Louisiana. on 8/9/2017
4

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