Make your own - No waste - 5 gallon (25# feed) bucket feeder for about $3

[kimc83]

I currently have 6 chickens and my feeder has 2 openings. I can still add another and I may eventually because I have 2 more week old chicks I will be adding to the flock when they get big enough. They all take turns pretty well. My waterer has 3 nipples and they all seem to use the one that is already being used even when there is an open one. lol.

 

[pfields]

I just made my second feeder today with a 50 gallon bin from Wal-Mart. I found my hot glue gun works great for securing the PVC elbows. We also bought some cinder blocks to put it on. I put four elbows on each side and one on each end for a total of 10. I like the way the lid locks down on this bin. The line across the side on the bottom worked as a perfect guide for where to start cutting the circle.

 

[pfields]

Both feeders with Little Red and Mr. Buff on the left.


Made this feeder yesterday.

 

[adkhunter1590]

Made a quick bucket feeder the other morning. Took the chicks only about 6 hours to figure it out.

 

[tntchix]

Both feeders with Little Red and Mr. Buff on the left.


Made this feeder yesterday.

These look great. Nice job.

 

[pfields]

Thank you!

 

[pfields]

Well, the rats have found my new feeder. When I opened it up this morning I saw black things and I knew I hadn't put sunflower seeds in the feeder. I found some plastic plugs at Home Depot but rats will probably chew right through those. Has anyone used sticky traps inside the feeder? Also, I put under the feeders the mouse poison traps that only the mouse can reach the poison on the inside but what will happen if a mouse dies from the poison, will the chickens eat it?

 

[texsuze]

The chickens might very well find a poisoned rodent and eat it. In addition, owls will be poisoned themselves if they eat a poisoned mouse or rat. Although many people dislike owls, they are nature's "rodenticide" and serve a useful purpose.

IMHO, sticky traps are messy and inhumane. Are you willing to check more than once a day to see if sticky traps have caught a rodent inside your chicken feeder? Who would want a dead/rotting mouse or rat polluting the feed while stuck to a sticky trap?

You might look at snap traps secured inside small boxes in the vicinity of the feeder. Chickens can't get inside or get hurt; quick and effective for mice/rats; no residual poisons around for chickens, dogs, cats, kids to encounter.

The bucket/tub feeders sounded like a great idea until I remembered the mice and squirrels I have in our barn. So when we can find the time, we'll be building a treadle feeder instead, with hopes that chickens will use it successfully, and that squirrels/rodents won't.

 

[heiditam]

I left a 3/4 inch under the pipe, but the food is not draining well. They eat it up, with no loss(yay!), but then it does not settle down and fill back in...Any advice? How much higher should I go-to ensure the food drains down but to also ensure that they do not scrape it out? I am using crumbles if that matters

 

[Peloton]

Glad I found this thread. Thanks!!

The chicken-noobs