Bok Bok Treadle Feeder Bin
Bok Bok Box
$119.00 Amazon
Interesting design but once again an imported product that helps continue the destruction of American manufacturing was brought about by greedy retailers.
This is the ubiquitous Chinese treadle feeder with a couple of upgrades.
The lid is larger and bent down at the sides to form guards to prevent birds from eating from the side and it says it has a soft close door system although it isn’t apparent from the pictures of the product.
The feeder also has a locking pin so the feeder can be secured at night.
This feeder has the same problems that the original Chinese treadle feeder has. It boasts of a 19 pound capacity the but even with the grill we are certain that the hens will rake out a lot of feed just like they do with the original feeder. We would recommend filling the feed bin only one quarter full, three pounds of feed, so the feeder would feed four birds for three days or 12 birds for one day before refilling.
The feeder does have the side guards like the Grandpa treadle feeder but they are moving with the lid and that isn’t a good idea. More pinch points for a bird to get caught in but it also increases the chance of a bird getting hit by the falling lid.
Bok Bok Box
- Made out of aluminum which is not good around the Ammonia produced by chicken manure as it will corrode Aluminum rapidly
- Aluminum is quite toxic, not an ideal feed bin material
- Like the Grandpa feeder there is no lip on front to reduce the feed waste when hens rake the feed
- Highly complicated lever and pivot system needed
- Interesting design and soft close door
- Treadle step is stamped sheet metal and quite flimsy, bending in the center till the treadle bottoms out on the ground or litter, limiting the rise of the lid.
- Pivot points on most models are small machine screws that will likely not last long
The fairly wide but flimsy sheet metal step will bend, jamming the treadle mechanism or bottoming out before the lid rises completely up. The aluminum stamping has some bead rolls stamped in but the wide surface is slippery for a chicken’s foot that might have chicken manure sticking to it.
The feeder is really the front part of a Grandpa treadle feeder with a slightly more complicated mechanism that raises the feed tray lid. It has a whopping 14 pivot points compared to the Grandpa treadle feeder eight pivot points so that is pretty complicated and prone to problems. It has a lot of pinch points where a bird could be injured and like the Grandpa treadle feeder the upwards and overhead feed lid itself is a danger to the birds although somewhat better with the soft close. Interestingly enough they didn’t include videos of that soft close function. The linkage itself is stamped sheet metal, quite thin for what it needs to do and the hinged back leaves a 1/4″ to 3/8″ gap all along the back side so the feeder isn’t 100% mouse proof. The product has no reviews yet but Amazon shows it with a five star rating with one “rating” but no review. It is a fairly new product, on the market for a few weeks so the durability issues have yet to show up.
What I find really troubling about this feeder
The marketing copy has a lot of hype.
The original Chinese feeder leaked, wasn’t at all mouse proof, yet according to the ad copy you will have rainbows coming out of the chicken’s rears if you buy this feeder.
They are advertising 19 pounds of feed yet the size isn’t much larger than the 12 pound Chinese treadle feeder. and we are sure the bird will rake the feed out and require leaving the feeder half empty. The ad claims 75% feed savings, that is hyperbole, and it claims it is bird proof, rat proof, and mouse proof when there is little difference between the older Chinese treadle feeder and this design other than the lid guards and soft close feature. They claim the design has been used by thousands of happy customers world wide yet it is just now on the market by a American re seller….
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The feeder weighs about the same as the original Chinese treadle feeder, 8.4 pounds, so once again, how can it hold over 19 pounds of feed? It does have three removable plastic containers that can be filled with food or water but they look to be less than one quart capacity, no way three quarts of feed is going to weight 19.4 pounds.
They do have free shipping and returns but at twice the price of the original Chinese treadle feeders, few of which are even still being sold on Amazon due to bad reviews and returns, this feeder while innovative with the plastic feed trays seems way over priced. And over marketed which is going to set very high expectations. The company has a bad record with customer service and few other products none of which have more than a 70% five star rating. A well designed product ought to have a 90% or more five star rating.