Anyone have feeders and waterers that last for a weekend?

[erinszoo]

Just wondering what kind of feeders and waterers we could use so that we could be gone for a weekend to my parents and not worry about the girls running out of feed? I've seen some hopper type feeders that we've considered trying to build that would probably work but I'm at a loss for waterers beyond buying a huge 5 gallon thing that they could spill or get gunked up with litter. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[BWKatz]

U don't say how many chicks but a bath basin with a brick in the bottom will do for 13 for 2 days.

 

[BWKatz]

Mine also like to drink from a water hose so u could leave it trickleing.

 

[erinszoo]

How big a bath basin? We have ten hens and a turkey. Right now they have a two gallon hanging waterer but we fill it twice a day usually and sometimes they accidentally knock it around enough to spill it. And what about ice build up if it's freezing? Does the brick help keep it from freezing solid?

 

[effie]

Well, I did get one of the 5 gallon waterers at tractor supply and like it. I sit mine up on a block and that helps with them getting dirt in it. I just made a new feeder this week with the pvc pipe and rain gutter on the wall. I had seen one on here that a guy made. I tweeked mine a bit-instead of just filling the pvc pipe with feed and then putting a cap on the top I made a box on the wall and the pipes come out the bottom of the box that I fill with a bag of feed. So I don't have to funnel the feed in the top of the pipes. I just fill the box and shove the feed around and it goes down the pipes --the pipes sit about 2 inches from the bottom of the gutter and the feed comes out easily as they eat-----the gutter on the wall that it feeds into is almost 6 feet long. The girls love it and is super easy and got that dang hangin feeder out of the middle of my coop and free'd up floor space for them.I have 16 hens and a roo and this is plenty of feed for a week at least. Hope this may help. There is also a flock block from tractor supply that I like to get and put in the coop to keep them busy when I am away for a few days.

 

[sunnydalefarms]

I use a 55 gallon container outside of the coop. Run pvc from the bottom of your barrel and attach beak cups or nipple waterers. Could use a smaller container if you don't have many birds.

 

[HEChicken]

It really does depend a lot on how many you have. I made a gravity feeder that holds about 10lb of feed and will last a flock of 8-10 around 3-4 days:

Now that my flock is a little bigger, and mice are eating the feed, I'm considering getting one of these:
http://thecarpentershop.net/mediumplywoodchickenfeeder.html since it will hold a lot more and [hopefully] keep the mice from eating the feed at the same time.

 

[erinszoo]

Quote:
I saw pics of one of those gutter type feeders and wondered about it. I like the idea of filling a box with a whole bag of feed. That would solve storage problems with the feed too. We already use a trough type feeder along one wall of our coop so the girls wouldn't have to adjust much. Have you had trouble with the 5 gallon waterer freezing up on you? I noticed at tractor supply that they had a heated one and I already have electric run to the coop so it wouldn't be a big deal to plug it in I guess. They're just so big looking.

 

[erinszoo]

Quote:
That's an idea we could try. I have an empty barrel. How big a pvc pipe do you use and how long is the run from the barrel?

 

[HEChicken]

Quote:
You can check out the cookie tin water heater if you are worried about freezing. Its really easy to set up - just a light bulb and a cookie tin. Set the waterer on top of it and it will put out enough heat to keep it from freezing.