guinea pigs push food out of feeder

Question
-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
I have four male guinea pigs who are very good at letting me know when they need to be fed.  I have a plastic feeder that is attached to the side of their cage so that I can fill it up and, hopefully, it would last them more than a day.  Well, what they're doing is after I fill it up, within what seems to be only hours, they have pushed all of the food out of the feeder onto the floor of the cage which gets mixed up with the pine shavings and then they squeak when I walk in wanting me to refill their feeder.  Is there a better way to feed them so this does not happen?  They seem to be wasting a lot of food this way or do you think it's possible that four male guinea pigs are eating that much food that quickly?  I also put Timothy Hay quite frequently in their cage for them to feed on.
Answer -
Hi Lana

I would suggest using a standard food bowl because then you can monitor how much your piggies eat. If you let them they will eat until they burst. It is certainly possible that 4 males could eat plenty in one go.

Andy

Thanks Andy!  I can see that they are not eating all of it, that most of it is just laying on top of and mixed in with the pine shavings where they pushed it out of the feeder.  So I feel that they'll just do the same thing with a food bowl.  The reason I got the feeder is because the breeder I got these from was feeding them around 2:30 pm every afternoon, and with my work schedule that was impossible for me to adhere to.  I am using the same food she fed them.  So I don't know if they're just now not wanting to eat this food anymore or what, but they do seem to be eating a little of it off of the floor of the cage.  I guess my question is less of how much they are eating (because I don't think it's excessive) but how to keep them from just pushing all of the food out of the feeder and then wanting me to put more in there by their squeaks.  I mean, if they're doing this to a feeder that is affixed to the cage, then I just feel they'll do the same thing to a food bowl or just knock it over so that all the food comes out again.  Should I just let them pick the food out of the pine shavings and then wait to feed them again until the next morning and just not worry about them pushing their food out of the feeder?  Thanks!

Answer
Hi again

My piggies have a habit of deliberately spilling their water in the little dish I use when they are inside for the night due to the cold weather. It sounds to me like your pigs are just being naughty.

It is certainly possible that they will knock over a standard food bowl, but it might also be worth a try.

It isnt a problem if they are eating the food from the floor providing that it isnt landing on soiled bedding which wouldnt be hygenic.

andy