Feeding device and image forming apparatus

A feeding device comprising:

• a loading portion including a plate configured to stack a plurality of sheets;
• a lifting mechanism including a lifting motor, the lifting mechanism configured to lift the plate of the loading portion;
• a conveying unit including a sheet conveyor configured to convey the sheets on the loading portion;
• a sheet detector including a sensor configured to detect presence or absence of the sheets on the loading portion at a specified height position;
• a sheet count detector configured to detect a number of sheets conveyed by the conveying unit;
• a near-end detector configured to detect a near-end state in which a stack height of the sheets on the loading portion is a specified value or less;
• and
• processing circuitry configured to switch from (i) controlling the lifting mechanism based on a detection result of the sheet detector to (ii) controlling the lifting mechanism based on a detection result of the sheet count detector, in response to detecting the near-end state.