Anyone feed out of wooden feeders?

[jmc]

I can't be the only old fashioned mind here.

Does anyone still use make-'em-yourself homemade wooden feeders?

How do you sanitize such a thing? Maybe you don't cuz wood too porous to be doused with liquid. Maybe just dry brush 'em out and scrape off poop.

Plastic cracks, metal rusts out, I really don't think wood is any worse, in fact, it might just last longer. And you can just make another!

Anyway, I have a nice upright, wooden trough that works real well, and after my current flock is 'gone' I don't wanna just toss it due to poss. 'contamination' of a new flock. I wanna keep using it!!!

Any thoughts to offer???

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
I can tell you that wooden horse feeders are not a good thing, pleasingly old fashioned tho they may seem. Crud gets worked inextricably down into the crevices and cracks, no matter how tightly the feeder was built, and in time starts to get really funny and sprout mildew and beetle larvae and such. Crud also gets into the pores of the wood itself. There is no way to really get it CLEAN clean.

(Wood is not "too porous to douse with liquid", though. Especially if it is finished in some way -- for a chicken feeder I would probably choose a human food-grade tung oil finish -- but even if it isn't.)

Now, it wouldn't be as bad with a chicken feeder I expect because chickens do not drool all into their food the way some horses do

but still, there are some real advantages of plastic and metal over wood. You can make a wooden feeder and have it work for a good long time I'm sure, but as much as I like wood for many things, I'm sticking with recycled PLASTIC for mine. (All my feeders are made out of 'repurposed' plastic junk that would otherwise have ended up in landfills).

JME,

Pat

 

[ChickenToes]

I use a homemade wooden feeder. You just lift the top, pour the feed in, and it comes out the trough at the bottom. My chickens (of course) roost on the lid, but I just scrape it clean. I haven't disinfected it yet, but if I decide to I'll probably spray it with a bleach and water solution and let it dry in the sun.

My feeder is about 10 years old. My in-laws used to use it for their chickens.

 

[cajunlizz]

NO I have not tried that .

But I do have a potato and onion wood holder that I no longer use . MIGHT just work for FEED .

I do have 2 large ceramic feeders I put side by side under the front of the coop , so feed does NOT get wet when it rains and anything scratched out remains under the coop .

I also have 2 large baking pans that I pour treats inside .

 

[jmc]

Thank you all for your thoughts. It's been good to have your input.

See you around the forum.

 

[MissPrissy]

My barn was built around 1915. Most of my feeders are wooden built in boxes. LOVE them.

 

[chickiebaby]

Also can't beat those flexible rubber tubs, black, from the feed store. Many sizes, and you can step on em, jump on em, flex or stomp the ice right out of em. Bounce back to shape and all natural non toxic etc. My friends have had theirs for over twenty years since they started keeping birds, with never a replacement.

 

[Jashdon]

I made a simple wooden trough feeder for our chickens. It works great! I haven't really had to clean it yet because they pick it clean with their beaks. I guess they really like to food we give em.

 

[Gazinga]

i have wooden feeders too, they work great! if i had to clean them i too would use a water blaech mixture.

and welcome back miss prissy

 

[cajunlizz]

Quote:
Got a pic of that feeder ?