iPetz is a South Australian pet and rural supplier based in Direk, covering birds and poultry, dogs and cats, equine, fish, reptiles and small animals. What we stock from the range is the hardware end: galvanised and plastic poultry feeders and drinkers, troughs, hanging hoppers, humane rodent traps and a cardboard cat scratcher.
Galvanised or plastic? Plastic is light, cheap and easy to scrub, and it is what you want for anything acidic or medicated — apple cider vinegar in the water strips the zinc off galvanised steel. Galvanised is the pick for gear that lives outdoors permanently: it does not go brittle in the sun and it is heavy enough that birds cannot tip it. If a drinker gets knocked over every second day, weight is the fix.
Hanging or standing? Hanging feeders and drinkers set at back height keep litter, droppings and scratched-up bedding out of the feed and water, which is the single biggest cause of waste in a small coop. Open troughs are easier to fill and let more birds eat at once, which takes the heat out of feed time in a flock with a strong pecking order.
