kevin1

Can you use cracked corn in a spinning type feeder ,
or should I just stick with whole corn ? Any tips for mixing in supplements/attractants ? The feeder will primarily be for deer and turkeys .

psandhu

i'd stick with whole corn, it's cheaper. i doubt if cracked corn would be of any benefit or advantage to deer or turkey, but if you were feeding chickens it would probably be a better choice.

kevin1

Thanks ,
this is corn country here , so both cracked and whole are pretty cheap . My main concern was jam-ups of the spinner . Any thoughts on things to mix with the corn to increase it's attractiveness , or just corn ? Other grains that might work too ? The feeder won't actually be for feeding so much as drawing wildlife in for my wife and grandkids to watch . The feeder will have to be removed at least 10 days before any hunting seasons by law .

StrmChzr

i would not use cracked corn w/ a spinner feeder. imo, lots of problems w/ cracked corn that are not concerns w/ whole corn.

i've had no problems w/ my homemade feeders. i load my feeders w/ 300+ lbs of whole corn, use either a cheapo moultrie spinner or the kenco straight shooter (both cost less than $40 at wally) and have had no problems after one year of use w/ anyone of the feeders (total of 5 feeders).

i recently read an interesting article concerning mixing soybeans w/ corn to provide deer w/ a better source of protein. can't remember the details, i'll see if i can find the info.

also, has anyone added any "sweeteners" to there feed grain? i've seen a couple of different "feed enhancement" products, but no first hand experience.

jdcesq

Kevin, I'd be careful with using cracked corn or adding anything to whole corn. My dad owns some property about 3 hours away from us and he doesn't get there very often, so he bought a 500 lb trough feeder with a spinner in the top of the downchute. He tried adding a couple hundred pounds of dried molasses to the whole corn. When we went back about 6 weeks later all of the corn and molasses were still in the hopper. Apparently the molasses got moist and became big clumps of corn, too big and too hard to fall through the spinner and down the tube. We had to bail it all out of the hopper onto the ground and start over.


Jeff

psandhu

i have bought probably 1000 lbs of cleaned whole corn and put it through my feeder. i have never had anything jam in it, even though there are some cob and stalk residue in the bag.

the first year i used it, actually the first week i used it, i also bought some wild apple deer feeder seasoning mix. It was something like $2 for a 1 oz foil packet of scented spices. yeah, it smelled like apples. but i think spending $2 for this kind of stuff is a joke. deer will find the corn without any additional things put in it.

kevin1

Thanks for the advice fellas !
I'll stick with whole corn .

Tree climber

I have 11 feeders in all going. I use only whole corn with no additives and all have the Moultrie eccony feeders. less than $30.00 at wally world. they do real well and wall world will replace them if anything happens in the first (like maybe year)??

I have used cracked corn in the spring a few times,the young poults can eat that better than whole corn.

I only had one clog,thats because the guy that helped me left the tag on the corn bag.it fell into the feeder and got in the funnel.[&:][:@]

rost495

We have a feed store that sells whole corn and soybeans mixed. Has worked fine in many feeders (spin type by HCR mostly) for years.

For turkey and especially if there are deer around I always mixed in 2 bags of milo with the whole corn. The deer eat the corn early and the milo is still there for the turkeys when they get there. OR the turkeys clean up some of it but there is usually a bit of milo left for the deer to nibble on.

FWIW straight whole corn poses no problems for turkeys though.

As to mixing stuff in, we'd add hog wild to the feeders every now and then to attract the hogs at times. Never clogged one of ours. YMMV.

DO be careful on pellet type feeds. I've had some clog up, some get damp and clog up, some not feed, some just work all the time. Sometimes the jams have to do with how close the spinner plate is to the funnel end. You may have to adjust that.

Jeff

kevin1

Thanks Rost .

For the non-farmboy what is milo and can you get it in bags at a feedstore ? There's a pretty good feedstore right around the corner from me , but I don't know if milo is grown here .