Zookeepers won't fill up food bowls

[SaltedFish]

So my poor peafowl are basically starving to death and I have no idea what to do. If I call a zookeeper, they walk in and look around... Then they leave, uncaring of the fate of the peafowl, these zookeepers are idiots.
So I guess my animals are gonna die.
Anyone experienced this and know how to fix it?

[GIGAPintofWine]

it seems like something to do with the enrichment food items when i add a enrichment food item to a habitat the big food trays wont fill up if i let the big trays fill up and then add an enrichment food item afterwards it seems like they'll fill em up ! also i dont get a enrichment food bonus in the habitat overview but when i click on the animals them self it shows enrichment food in the tab! hope it helps submitted it to the bug tracker too ! happy zooing everyone !

[Fiona]

In my case it didnt work too at the beginning. The solution were more zoo keeper houses near by the enclosures. Each zoo keeper house can only be used by one zoo keeper at the same time for the preparing of food. Therefore it did not help to have 10 zoo keepers and send them again and again into the enclosures, if they have no capacity / room to prepare food. With more of those houses the feeding works fine. In 90% of the cases they check the enclosure and go to the zoo keeper house to prepare food. Once they finished the preparations they come back and fill up everything. Maybe that helps. Good luck!

[Hλlf Baked Cake]

To everyone having this issue: PLEASE go read this and send in your save files - this is for the Keeper Feeding bugs and Guests Using Shops issues.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/zookeepers-and-shop-issues.525012/

[Grey]

I had this problem for a moment until I realised that there was a Feeding platform in a treehouse I got from the workshop ( player blueprint ), the thing was used as floor for the tiny treehouse, and of course it was outta reach for the Keeper.
I guess there is some kind of chronological hierarchy concerning food objects.

[hallefski]

I have one habitat...Peafowl...two keepers...all of the staff buildings are very near the gate. One keeper is assigned to clean..the other to feed. Both of them do nothing but cleaning! all the birds are starving. This bug makes the game completely unplayable until it is fixed. really annoying!

[Mesonyx]

I don't rely on water bowls or taps but I make sure there is a small pond in each enclosure (that is within reach of a functioning water station so that the water will stay clean!) - no problems there and no need for water bowls or taps then. For food, I've noticed that the 'normal' feeding stations indeed stay empty a lot of the time (keepers never seem to fill those), but the food enrichment items I have put into the enclosures ARE being used and actually keep my animals alive (you may have to "reset" these every now and then; click on them and then a keeper WILL come in to refill, at least for me). Research your animals to unlock enrichments (also upgrade the quality of the food you give them after research). This was indeed a big issue in the beta so it may (still?) be a bug but fortunately it hasn't affected me that much. In cases where animals are starving, I quickly move them to the trading station (where they don't age or die) and reset the food enrichments in their habitat - when they have been refilled, I put the animals back in. I also use work zones, have keeper huts close to the habitats and invest in training sessions for the keepers.

[Otterly Confused]

I quit my current scenario out of frustration for this reason. I had two exhibits that were dying because the zoo keepers refused to tend to them even when specified in the work area. I'd check back on them constantly to see if they were on the way but nope, they were in the wrong staff center on the other side of the park idling.

Can we get the rollercoaster tycoon ability to pick up staff and move them? Because their pathing is kinda inept even with work force.

[Sumeru]

Answer from Planet Zoo I found on Facebook regarding this: Keepers will work out how much food they need to prepare for a habitat based on how many animals are in the habitat. They will then prioritise filling enrichment feeders before standard feeders. This can mean that if all of the prepared food is placed in enrichment feeders, the standard feeders won't be filled. Keepers cann also become tired and won't perform their duties if they are not rested, so make sure you let them have some time off at a Staff Centre now and again.

[Fiona]

I had those issues in the beta extremly, currently everything works fine. Some animals took their food without any problems from the food toys, if there is no food in the bowls it doesnt matter. But not all of them are that smart and it is not a sure solution. I try to reach a balance. Some food toys for happiness, but not too much, to leave a rest of food for the bowls. A tipp from the beta was "Move the starving animals to the quarantine, if you bring them back into their enclosures they are restored". But I don´t know if that works, never tried it.

[Ritz]

Do you have power to the keepers hut?

[Sumeru]

Answer from Planet Zoo I found on Facebook regarding this: Keepers will work out how much food they need to prepare for a habitat based on how many animals are in the habitat. They will then prioritise filling enrichment feeders before standard feeders. This can mean that if all of the prepared food is placed in enrichment feeders, the standard feeders won't be filled. Keepers cann also become tired and won't perform their duties if they are not rested, so make sure you let them have some time off at a Staff Centre now and again.

[Chromer]

exact same bug here, with peafowls. I've encountered quite a few bugs so far, but this one is game breaking.. we just have to wait for a patch.

[Kromez7]

So I was having this problem but for me moving the staff entrance to the enclosure and the water bowl fixed it. My tourtouses JUST made it!

[ragequittingbot2k]

pain is my only word