ippuku abisensei🍵🐔👘

Last week, I bought a smart feeder for the chickens.

And it changed my life.

I had been thinking for quite some time about purchasing a smart feeder from Omlet USA, but I couldn’t think of a way to justify the $230 some odd dollars until last week.

What if this device allowed me to sleep in? What if I could have the auto doors let the birds out in the morning, and at the same time they would have water and food available to them without me having to leave my bed? What if this was a feeder that I could just leave in the run overnight and not have to take out and put away everyday? Does it keep the chickens from dropping food everywhere and attracting other animals too?

What if I could stay in bed on weekends? JUST. IMAGINE.

This is the logic that led me to drop in at our local feed store and finally make the purchase. And I am really glad that I did.

I put this bad boy together at midnight after I got home from an event, so apologies if some of the photos are dark.

Honestly I was really impressed from the get-go with this thing. The manuals were clear, and the bottom opened up pretty easily so I could slip the 4 AA batteries that it needs to run inside of it. I used the heavy-duty Energizer Lithium Ion ones because they do well in the cold, and it has been getting down to the 40s and 50s F at night. I’m interested to see how the feeder itself will function in the dead of New England wintertime as well.

I love that it pairs with the Omlet app, so you can program what time the feeder opens and closes. It also has a sensor that tells you how full the feeder is, and alerts you when you need to refill it. Smart!

It also works out of the box with just a light sensor to signal it to open and close if smart stuff isn’t your thing but you still want the convenience of not having to leave your bed in the morning. There is also a little window just below the light sensor so you can see immediately how much food is inside.

Initially I was afraid that the flock would be afraid of this new thing in their run. I put out the feeder just after 12:30ish AM so that their food would be ready as they woke up and came out into the run for the day. So I went to bed shortly after and crossed my fingers.

I read someplace online (probably Reddit) that some flocks weren’t interested in using the feeder and would actively avoid it, but luckily that wasn’t the case with ours.

I checked the camera footage after I woke up the next day, and Diamond was the first to approach it. She is the Chief Investigator of the flock, and a super smart cookie to boot. She ate out of the feeder no problem, and soon everyone else learned from her how to use it. Clever. Girl. 🦖

Even the “new” girls didn’t mind eating from it, and I will take that as a huge win. I have kept the feeder stocked and ready since, and now I can sleep in on the weekends without worrying about whether or not my birds are hungry.

Thank you Omlet for keeping my flock fed and for giving me my sweet, sweet, sleep in time back! 🙌🐓