Feeding Troughs for Fermented Feed, please post your photos

RoseMarie1 said:

This is mine. I made it out of a piece of vinyl gutter. I just used what we had on hand for the legs and the ends. I used a piece of metal the length of it to help hold up the poultry wire because I knew they would want to GET ON IT. lol Going to make one more out of the other piece of gutter. Only thing is, it's hard for me to spoon the food in it with the poultry wire over the top but IF I didn't do that they would be standing in their food!
I had it attached to the wall BUT they couldn't feed but from one side of it and I have 38 chicks ranging from about 8 weeks old to 6 week olds.

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Instead of the chicken wire use a pipe. Cut slots in the top of the ends and you can lift the pipe off to load the trough. With the pipe free to spin they won't be able to perch on it, especially a small diameter pipe. The height of the pipe should be around two inches above the edge. The smaller ones may try to stand in it but they will be uncomfortable and soon stop, especially as they grow.

Here's my brooder feeder. It's a plastic tub with a baffle made from corrugated plastic to keep them from walking through and pooping in the feed. The point discourages perching. Time 10 minutes and cost free (scrap from another project). Works great so far. I'll probably build something similar for the adult feeder.

tater1961 said:

I'm using 4" sewer and drain pipe(cheaper than schd. 40), cut it with a 4" angle grinder with a diamond blade for cutting ceramic tile. Put 2 caps on the ends no glue. Screwed it to the wall.

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Did you simply cut the 4" pipe in half and thus made two feeders? It looks like that is probably what you did but I'm not sure. Also curious as to what breed of chickens those are?

toward the end of this video you can see the way I fixed the trough now. It's hanging up.

Den in Penn said:

Instead of the chicken wire use a pipe. Cut slots in the top of the ends and you can lift the pipe off to load the trough. With the pipe free to spin they won't be able to perch on it, especially a small diameter pipe. The height of the pipe should be around two inches above the edge. The smaller ones may try to stand in it but they will be uncomfortable and soon stop, especially as they grow.

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That's a GOOD idea now why didn't I think of that? ;-) Seriously that would probably also keep out the rain if I needed it in another area that wasn't covered.
Thank you!!!

I have not made my fermented feed troughs as of yet, but the plan in my head goes something like this. I am going to use four inch pvc, I am going to get some 2 x 10's, or so and bolt, screw, or glue them together somehow to make a doubled up one foot length. Take my four inch hole saw and drill out the 2 x 10's one by one, but over each other so the hole runs true. Then put an angle on it so it looks nice and I should be able to put a screw through it to hold the pipe in place as well. You could even use the concept to rig up a fixture to help in the cutting of the pipe itself on a table saw or radial arm

Place the hole high enough to suit your needs. I have some salvaged redwood planks that are perhaps tall enough to work out for my build, plus redwood is light enough to move around easy. I would plan on using end caps with my wood riser/trough leg inside of them a few inches.

Just an idea in the making…

RJ

I purchased a length of vinyl gutter, and cut it into 3' lengths. I glued end caps on, and screwed a piece of wood on the backs of each "trough". On the backside I put 2 eye bolts, and used stainless carabiners to attach to eye bolts in the run, so I can remove them to clean. So far they are working perfectly!

Thanks. I happen to have 3 10' sections of gutter I never used laying around and the hidden fasteners, but only 2 end caps so will need to get 2 more to make 2 8' feeders. My building is 10 by 10 so if I make then 8' they will fit without being too crowded in the corner.