SHOW ME, your diy feeders and waters

[Tati]

Guess what happened! When I sat down in the chicken yard, yesterday (after a few days of not visiting them because I wasn't feeling well), I noticed that 4 of our 8 girls (probably the ones that have started laying) had gained weight and were pecking on the other 4. They had never done this before. I also noticed that the other 4 had not gained any weight. (This must have happened within a week or so.)

There never seemed to be a hierarchy before, and they had all eaten corncobs peacefully from my hand. Now only the fatter and stronger ones ate from my hand. The others didn't dare to come.

I told my husband that he needed to install a second feeder asap. For now we have only one feeder (made out of a plumbing pipe, as seen here on BYC). I am afraid the, meanwhile, bigger and fatter 4 girls don't allow the others to eat from the feeder. Buggers!

We also feed "Weichfutter" (German for "soft food", that is kitchen scraps, cooked potato peels and potato leftovers, etc.), and the recently finished summer enclosure, to which our chickens have finally moved, is about 1,200 sqft large. So the deprived chickens would not have starved, but we definitely have to make sure that the 4 bossy ones can't keep the others away from the main food source.

Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[eleaserek]

@Tati it does indeed seem to take about twice as long. But, so far it's worth it but I have to say that now I want some German potato salad!! My (very german) grandma always made the best! My mom is trying to teach me, but I've yet to get it just right

 

[Tati]

@ eleaserek: So you are also of German descent.--There are probably different recipes for German potato salad, depending on the part of Germany where one lives (or lived). The basic recipe I know (which was passed on from my grandmother, who was a chef) is as simple as can be:

Boil whole, unpeeled potatoes (or as we, meanwhile, do) cook them in the microwave. Let them cool until they are lukewarm. Peel them and slice the peeled potatoes in very thin slices. Add salt and pepper and a chopped (preferably mild) onion. Add white vinegar to taste and about twice as much oil as vinegar. Add a little bit of water. (I usually don't, but my grandmother would probably scold me for it.) Taste and see wether it needs more salt, pepper, vinegar, or oil. Adjust if necessary. Finished!

I usually make an enhanced version of my grandmother's basic recipe. That is, I add chopped raw celery, a sour apple (in small, thin pieces), and occasionally red bell pepper pieces, cut chive, and pressed garlic. (Please note: Celery complements the sour apple, and vice versa. Don't use either without the other.)

My grandmother would serve it with "Fleischpflanzerl" (hamburger patties made with 1/2 minced beef and 1/2 minced pork, plus salt & pepper, plus finely chopped onion [which she didn't tell me because I hated onion], plus 1 raw egg, plus "Semmelbroesel" [bread crumbs]; mix and finish dipping in more bread crumbs) During the "bad time" (= WWII and the years of deprivation following it), there was rarely any minced meat to be had. (And when there was, it was used for "Hackbraten" [meat loaf]). Therefore, cooked/fried meat-leftovers were used instead, after first being chopped in the "Fleischwolf" (meat grinder). I tried this version again a few decades later but was disappointed.

P.S. You can also use hot potatoes. Then, the potato salad tastes quite differently and has a more squashy texture. Lukewarm potatoes are the classic version, but I like the hot version very much, too. You can also use cold potatoes. The cold version is not quite as tasty, but it is convenient to prepare ahead of time for parties and outings.

PLEASE NOTE: Once the oil is added, potato salad can be a petri dish for salmonella. So either eat it immediately and don't leave it in room temperature for longer than, let's say, half an hour, and no longer in the fridge than 24 hours (some people don't even do that but throw leftovers away), or work laboratory-clean when you prepare it. This is what I do. I wash my hands whenever I touch anything, during preparation, that's not all clean (such as the phone, a remote control, my clothes, my face, a chair, the refrigerator door, etc.), and I wash the onion very hot and disinfect all other raw ingredients additional to thoroughly washing them 3x. (I disinfect after the 1st rinse for 1 minute with hydrogen peroxide.) With all this hygiene, we keep the salad in the fridge for up to 4 days. A neighbor, whom I once had given the leftover salad after a grill party, told me that he had eaten it after 8 days. I was horrified. Nevertheless, they neighbor didn't get sick. In any case, don't push your luck. Every year, lots of people get sick with salmonella infection (some of them even die) because they ate potato salad that had a chance to breed germs.

 

[MeepBeep]

Did you check out  whether the Lowe's buckets are food grade?

They are not 'food grade' certified but that doesn't necessarily mean they are not safe...

Almost all 5 gallon buckets are made of the same plastic, the difference between 'food grade' and 'non-food grade' in the US is mostly just the certification stamp...

Generally the certification is not done on 'custom colors' like those buckets found in big box stores, because the bucket company would have to certify every different color bucket produced separately as they use different pigments to create each color, that incurs additional cost, cost that the big box stores likely are not interested in as they want cheap buckets...

In the end I would not worry about it, if you are worried around me I believe Menards and Walmart sell 'white' stamped food grade buckets, but they cost more... Or as someone else said hit up a bakery or local deli (even the Walmart bakery) and ask them to set a few aside for you, most won't mind giving them away as they just toss them anyway...

 

[Tati]

@ MeepBeep: Thank you so much for your elaborate info. I'll try the Walmart and Smith's bakeries. Yet after what you told, I think that Lowe's buckets should also be fairly safe. I think non-food grade plastic/colors become problematic when food is heated in the containers (for instance, in a microwave), or maybe, when food is stored in them for a very long time (such as for doomsday prepping). I also wouldn't use non-food grade containers to keep anything acid, such as pickled vegetables.

 

[Michael56]

I made this automatic poultry feeder from a 5-gallon round plastic pail. It engages my birds in pecking and grabbing in the catch-dish of the feeder and thus reduces boredom and aggression. The feeder keeps my feed secure and away from elements and mice as we can cover the pail by its lid and reduce the wastage of the feeds.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

That's very cool, @Michael56!

 

[puffin13]

Very cool indead, Michael! Funny to watch them swinging the feed cup. Great idea!

 

[Fairy Godmother]

Here is our water source, with the water cups and feed bucket. We have four, two month old chickens. Found this idea here on BYC but now I can't find it to give kudos. We tried a couple of other ideas but this is the best yet. NO waste! Holds 25 lbs of food and we haven't even gone through one bucket of water. We are new to the back yard chicken life but I think we have stumbled on the water/feed solution. Works for us as we are retired and do a bit of traveling so know the girls always have food and water.

 

[ttakas]

Very cool auto feeder michael56.