The problem is that you misuse the category field.
Use a site meta field (array) and a simple checkbox on each post. When a post is saved add its ID to the site meta array, and if the array is longer than 5 drop the last ID from it. The query for featured post will then just take the post IDs from the meta field and you will never have to uncheck something manually.
Related Posts:
- Code to make a post sticky
- How to display only feautured/sticky listings on the homepage
- Keep featured content post in homepage with original order
- How to add category to: ‘wp-admin/post-new.php’?
- WP_Query: Why is sticky post not first item in loop?
- How to allow hidden custom fields to be added from wp-admin/post.php?
- Export WordPress Posts and Meta Information in CSV format
- Delete duplicated wp_postmeta record
- Highlight a Featured Post?
- Will a large postmeta table slow a site down?
- How to batch update post content with custom post meta value
- Change slug with custom field
- Better post meta efficiency?
- featuring old articles without messing up with the archive
- Edit meta data does’t work with custom sql
- Human Time Diff, change mins to minutes
- Change post format using custom field
- Exporting Data from WordPress into a flat table
- Adding Multiple Values to a Post Meta Key
- Using radio button meta data from a custom meta box
- PHP Notice error (when on 404 page)
- Checking if a post with certain meta value exists
- How to permanently delete a post meta entry?
- Add custom field automatically (add_post_meta) with value based on number of words of article
- Modify WP_Post before processing
- Save re-arranged draggable post items to wordpress database
- I would like to give special promotion for the first 100 posts in my blog? Can anyone tell me how to do that?
- Change post_date to post_modified date on post template?
- Converting a dynamic piece of code using WordPress Loop into a static one using Post ID
- Sticky post appears twice
- How can I sort posts by the date and a custom meta field?
- is there a way to show the the post title after the image?
- Get Meta Key Value While Saving Post
- Force the “Choose from the most used tags” meta box section to always be expanded
- Meta value does not save for scheduled posts
- Custom Posts Query and meta_query Sort Order
- How to compare two posts including their meta fields on a scalable base?
- Calling Different Custom Post Timestamps in a table
- Is it possible to paste a link without tags and make it directly a link in a post?
- Cannot retrieve a custom RSS field from posts
- Saving custom fields to a custom taxonomy
- Only display sticky post or latest post in custom loop
- Customize rel=canonical tag for single blog post
- Change all author links in Blog roll
- How to I retrieve the ID from the Posts page?
- How to calculate the average of a post meta value(Numeric) of a specific author
- Is there any way to tell when wp_postmeta has been updated?
- Change post author without using wp_update_post()
- wp_query with ajax
- Display post number by category
- Updating post meta for checkbox
- get_previous_post() while accounting for sticky posts
- Automatic blog page with custom design [closed]
- Add multiple meta keys to a post at once
- Show number of posts by logged in user
- How does WP decide how to display a page
- When sending a newsletter -not with wordpress- the server has 100% cpu [closed]
- Insert data from custom created PHP page into wp_postmeta table
- Issue with first top post display order
- The loop starting at a certain ID
- saving/reading custom field value does not work – no value gets POSTed
- Simple Custom Metabox Not Saving
- Get post category as a separate string and url
- show div only if have a related post inside
- marking a post that was sticky on category template
- Delete media from the post but keep my featured image and post
- Select another post in a post meta like a parent page is selected while editing a page
- SQL DELETE multiple post_meta on single and multi-sites
- Sticky Post Doesn’t always work
- How to pull sticky post permalink inside php?
- Private post caught in endless redirect loop
- How to mark only one post as Featured post?
- Blogposting Schema & Structured Data without plugin
- Automatically select template based on query string for New Posts
- Display Updated Date Instead of Published Date
- How do you update post date (year only) in a separate custom field?
- Add postmeta to all blog posts
- Bulk Post update_post_meta
- Re-order Category Meta-data
- WP_Query sort by meta_value_num or date
- Grab meta data before post is saved
- How to fetch posts that are stored in the different table than the default table (wp_posts)?
- Check if user has avatar
- alt of attached image in post / pages
- Creating Ordered Query using Meta_key
- Get the correct meta_value with get_post_meta
- Filter question list on substring of metavalue
- Add a meta to a post submited from a frontend form
- Add custom class to existing menu items from custom meta
- Add something after all sticky posts in The Loop
- How to get only current images of a post
- Run function after post is updated
- Adding custom fields to the Quick Edit screen – puzzled about the column concept
- Show related (archive) month and year to post
- How enter custom post meta or custom field on box post list archive page?
- WP_query sort by custom meta_key “price”
- NewsPaper WP Theme – Additional Related Posts Filter by Time (divTag composer)
- What effect can a large wp_post table have on overall site performance?
- How to make internal links creating plugin to respect ACF?
- Translation related post text to Arabic