The feeder for short rods of a diameter of between 6 and 120 mm for a machine such as a turning lathe or an automatic lathe comprises a rod loading device having elements for holding a plurality of rods on an inclined plane and loading slides, a device for centering rods along an axis of alignment with respect to the machine tool, and a device for advancing rods in the machine tool. The holding elements are fingers which do not just hold a rod, but offer it, in the course of loading, a support surface in such a way that the rod is simultaneously supported by the finger and the loading slide. The feeder further comprises a device making it possible to adapt the position of the first rod to be loaded to the diameter of this rod when the limit stop for the course of the loading slide is adjusted to the diameter of the rod. This construction of the feeder avoids any impact of rods against the loading slide, and makes the machine more efficient owing to the semi-automatic adaptation to the variable diameter of rods.