Livery stealing my feed!!

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Mlini

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There is a young girl on my yard that keeps using my feed despite me telling her several times not to! :mad: She says that she isn't using it BUT I think it is going down more than usual - Unless this is just me being paranoid!

Anyway, just a couple of questions for you..

Does anybody know how much a scoop of Alfa A weighs? Just a normal stubbs scoop...
And how much a scoop of A&P Calm & Condition?
Just want to roughly work out how long this feed should last me. He has 1 scoop of C&C and two scoops of Alfa per day.

And... I need a lockable feed bin, big enough to fit in a bag of Alfa A and two bags of Calm and Condition. I looked at galvanised feed bins but the cheapest one I can find is around £60! :eek: I am on a budget! Does anyone know where I can get a cheap lockable feed bin from, a big one. I looked around my local garden centres but no luck! I would just get normal dustbin types but I am limited to space so am looking for something square that can go in the corner.

Thanks for any help in advance!! :D
 
Dead chest freezer - try freecycle, gumtree etc.

Great storage & often come with locks. If not you can fit a hasp & staple & padlock.

For now try a rat trap in the bin.
 
I would keep your feed at home for now and just measure out each feed into a carrier bag and take that to the yard as needed.

I would inform YO of the situation and look around in the mean time for a lockable stortage container.
 
I keep mine in the boot of the car, I don't tend to keep anything at the yard but a hoofpick, headcollar and the rug the horse is wearing at the time
 
Go down to Morissons and buy a small weigh scale for £2.00, then to ironmonger and buy a mousetrap.
There should be a wheelie bin somewhere looking for a home, quite easy to drill a hole in it for a padlock.
There are about five sizes of scoops, it is quite important that you know how much you are feeding your horse.
 
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Without soundign daft, as different scoops can be slightly different sizes and people fill them more or less could you put your '1 scoop' in a carrier bag and take it home and weight it?

PS Cheest freezer is a good idea as another poster said.
 
You can buy bins with wire handles that clip up over the lid, put a bikechain through the handles and pull tight, the last thing anyone wants is a theif in their yard, speak to yo
 
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either 2 wheelie bins which you can empty feed sacks into or try B&Q I have a plastic chest which has a bit you could put a padlock on (mine are kept at home so I don't bother). And you could easily fit 2 bags of feed in it. Chaff takes up the most room usually as the bags are bigger but I reckon you'd fit 3 or 4 bags of chaff in there. As its not metal I'm sure someone determined could break the plastic bit the padlock goes through with some effort, but its probably a good deterrent for someone just nabbing a bit of your feed on the go :).

ETA- scrap the B&Q idea, just looked and they are asking £70 for the chest I have :eek: I bought mine years ago and it certainly wasn't that much money! and the design looks identical. Plus the bottom of mine has fallen out in the past, and also mice were able to get in so its been sealed with some form of building foam sealant around the base! so definitely not worth £70!!! wheelie bins?
 
Everything that everyone else says.

Personally, I'd bag it up, otherwise, you can leave a note in there saying that you know she is stealing your feed and that she is being watched...you can actually be as nice, or as nasty as you like about it, if she IS stealing she isn't going to say anything, if she isn't then she'll never know.;)
 
definitely would drive me to being a little more inventive...if you got a very large chest freezer you could even lock the thief in it...and add the mousetrap & then afix the padlock...this is your only definite cure...you can then weigh the chest freezer at regular intervals on your new scales..you will still need the drill tho, to enable air holes to be drilled & for the occasional morsel/bucket of water/hose to be chucked in for welfare reasons?:D

On a serious note I would try freecycle & gumtree for a chest freezer,some diy stores do a lockable large plastic trunk which you could look at finding on ebay or again on freecycle etc perhaps even an ad in your local tack shops or even the local tip may be willing to donate one? I hope you are lucky enough to have a kind & sensible YO and that everything is sorted v soon xx
 
Magnetic Sparrow said:
I used a chain and padlock through the handles of my metal dustbin to stop the theft of my feed when we had a thief on our yard.
Click to expand...

I would do as suggested here, my two feed bins have handles which I could thread a lock through if needed, could be cheaper and easier than other options, apart from only taking up what you use each time of course
 
A wheelie bin is a good idea, you can get locks for them or drill a couple of holes in it and use padlock and chain to keep secure. Chain and padlock on ebay for about a fiver

you could take up feed every day but I guess it might be a bit of a faff? Anyway more to the point you shouldnt have to you should be able to keep your stuff at the yard without people helping themselves.
 
Weight of feed - you really should already know this so you know you are feeding correctly - take scales up stable or take feed hom to mum with scales.

As for the thieving so and so - I'm sure you can be inventive with padlocks and chains. Old fashioned metal bins have handles that you can run chains through. OR take it home.
 
As others have mentioned the dustbins with the handles over the lid are useful as you can thread a chain through them to lock them up. Worked at last yard as other livery was helping herself to my sister and friends food on a regular basis until they chained their bins up :eek:
 
if feed is not in close to horses cheap foolproof option is one of the 100 decibel alarms with the long cable.then any roaming fingers will not only emerge red faced but very obviously startled too...they can only be switched off by key and go off if anyone tried to break cut or tamper or remove battery...very effective & only 20quid -scats sell them/ebay too and run on 9volt battery(the tiny rectangle ones) so cheap as chips you could rig one up simply by drilling your feed bins & lacing it thru so all protected..
 
We keep our feed in the wagon now after we noticed it going walkabouts.....
we also have a sign up over our hay and straw "Keep your hands off! UV paint is in use, we will KNOW who you are!" ;)

None has gone since :)
K x
 
As others have suggested re storage ideas. I have used an old chest freezer for years to store rugs in etc.

Fold tops of feed bags in a certain way after you have mixed feeds for that evening. You will know pretty quickly if someone is taking your feed if bags are not as you have left them next time you go to do feeds etc. (as you have said you are not 100% sure if feed is being stolen still)
 
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