Voilamart Automatic Chicken Chook Poultry Feeder
Not a good feeder for the money
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This feeder was billed as an upgraded version of the commonly sold Chinese treadle feeder found in dozens of places on Ebay and Amazon so we ordered one to see if it was actually any better than others we had seen. We found the item on Amazon and spent about $56.00 including the free shipping,
What we learned was that it was the exact same feeder as we had looked at before with all the same flaws, flimsy front step that bent easily, six pivot points that were major pinch points and dangerous for the birds, four pivot points with metric screws that had no self locking features so they begin to back out as we were trying to assemble and test the feeder, very sharp edges that one needed to be careful of when cleaning and handling, and a host of other problems that you can find by visiting our earlier post on the Chinese feeders.
The material is extremely thin, to the point that the back leg on one side was crushed in shipping without any visible box damage.
The feeder was well packed with foam wrapped around both ends. But that didn’t prevent shipping damage .
The weight was less than advertised, only 4 pounds. Shipping weight was six pounds. The feed compartment is about 21″ x 7″ x 3 3/8″ tall, advertised to hold 11 pounds of feed. As many of the reviews on Amazon state you can’t fill the feeder to the top or the birds will rake the feed out. Filling it to about one quarter full or less than three pounds is about right.
The material is extremely thin, to the point that the back leg on one side was crushed in shipping without any visible box damage.
The parts look neat and pretty, very professional looking but flimsy construction and a poor choice of hardware that doesn’t have the nylon locking inserts to prevent the screws from backing out and getting lost.
Hard to see but the front step was bent during shipping due to the thin gauge aluminum used to construct the feeder. A five or six pound chicken would have this step turned into a C shape in short order without some sort of reinforcement added to the step. Deformation of the step is also going to affect the pivot points leading to a jammed feeder.
The bottom of the feeder is missing any sort of reinforcement or fasteners with the bottom prone to flexing. In fact there are only eight pop rivets holding the unit together.
The product was so poorly designed and the metal so flimsy that we opted to return it due to the crushed back leg and the fact that it was the same feeder that was available on Ebay for $25.00 including shipping, 2.24 times cheaper than the Amazon price. When you look at the aluminum construction, the flimsy gauge metal used, the small amount of feed it can hold without having feed slung on the ground, and the problem of the screws backing out during testing and use it all adds up to a very poor choice for a chicken feeder. The Chinese manufacturer has made a product designed to sell to resellers and not a useful chicken feeder. We are doubtful that you would get six months out of one of these feeders and from the reviews it takes much longer to train the birds and it is a hassle to keep the hardware from falling off and getting lost so we will give this product a one star rating.
