DIY Thread - Let's see your "Inventions".

[perchie.girl]

Here's a bag collar feeder I built which I use for 25-50lb bags of feed. My idea was that the bag can do what it already does - hold feed, and the collar just directs it down the feed ramp. Currently feeding a bunch of cornish x off it.



and of the ramp:

I love it. I have been thinking of a whole bag feeder for some time but one sided. some times its best not to over think just.. DO...

deb

 

[MeepBeep]

 
Here's a bag collar feeder I built which I use for 25-50lb bags of feed.  My idea was that the bag can do what it already does - hold feed, and the collar just directs it down the feed ramp.  Currently feeding a bunch of cornish x off it.

My guinea fowl (as well as a few of my chickens) would peck and shred the bag in no time, resulting in feed everywhere

I have one of those plastic kiddie swimming pools in my coop for a dust bath, I don't know what happened but there is one area on the pool that looks like a dog was chewing on it, the birds literally poked holes through the wall of the pool..

 

[cabinchicky]

Some of us do have spares in the truck ya-know.
Scott

Lol, good one! I am lucky my husband doesn't have a truck toolbox. His welders won't fit one.

 

[cabinchicky]

Blooie, applause! I get your humor too!Wish I could do the hunting still but can't due to physical limits. Love your ideas as well.

 

[aart]

Quote: I was thinking the same, might work good for meat birds as they are doing tho.....
....but how do you open the bag and get in place?
That post is 3 years old, @xC0000005 hasn't been active since then.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: I was thinking the same, might work good for meat birds as they are doing tho.....
....but how do you open the bag and get in place?
That post is 3 years old, @xC0000005 hasn't been active since then.

That was what was stopping me when I was considering the idea. The way I was going to use it was a one sided feeder sitting outside of the chainlink then having a wood or plastic barrier that had a feeding slot in it. Then slap the feed upside down against the shelf and wall and bungee it in place... NO pecking then... I could even use paper packaged feed.

but how to open it once its in place because I am NOT flipping the whole unit over....

deb

 

[bruceha2000]

@Blooie Yep, please stay yourself .. I love reading your posts and totally get your sense of humour

Don't encourage her! I have to clean my computer screen often enough as it is.

If I may be so bold as to inquire, what kind of riding mower do you have? We have one but I don't like it much. Hydrostatic drive doesn't do much for me, it's too low to be much use in a pasture type situation. Although it's supposed to cut up to 6" it actually tops out at about 2 + it doesn't seem to have much power. Regards, Woody

Hydrostatic is inherently better in the long run then many of the common gear trannys used lawn tractors nowadays, they have cheapened up the gears so much in modern riding lawn mowers that they simply wear out or strip if put under too much load... One thing people miss or overlook with lawn tractors is the size of the mower deck to the horsepower of the engine, or even the size of the mower deck overall this is a huge factor in it's ability to cut taller and weedy grass... Also worth noting is that most lawn tractors use the same components from brand to brand and many are even made by the same manufactures just rebranned...

With that said on the HP to mower deck size, I have a 12HP rider with a 34" deck that I use for the grunt work, and it will eat up pretty much anything I toss at it, all the while I have see my neighbor constantly struggle to no end and resort to driving like a turtle in molasses to cut with his 24HP 54" deck rider... This is in regards to weedy farm grass that doesn't get mowed all that regular, if you have nice grass and it gets mowed regularly I doubt you would see the issues...

Sounds like your neighbor might have the same Craftsman GT I have, built by Husqvarna. 4" is max height so I have to pay Al up the road to sickle bar mow the fields with a real tractor in late June or July after the wild birds have done their nesting thing. Last year I mowed them weekly after he hacked down the 5' tall weeds, some with pencil thick stalks. No time this year but the fields are still a lot more grass and a lot less weed than before I had him mow last year. And grass isn't NEARLY as tall as those weeds. One of these days I'm getting me a REAL tractor and I'll be able to sicklebar them myself.

Hydro is nice if you have to do a lot of forward/reverse shifting. Good for mowing and especially for blowing. I think it can be an issue on real tractors if the tranny and attachment hydraulics use the same pump though.

... gator blades turned it into 'almost a brush hog' and it pretty easily throws the tons of snow I get here.

gator blades???? OK looked them up, kinda serious looking

How hard are they to sharpen with those "fjords"? They look like they might handle the heavier stuff in the "barnyard" better than the stock mulching blades I have. I suspect that no matter what blades I get I'll still have the "grass glued inside the deck" problem even though I mow pretty high. I never mow when the grass is "rain wet" but there is enough water in the grass itself that it fills all the spaces where the blades aren't spinning. It is worse with the mulching blades of course but still a problem if I have the regular blades and chute installed. The "washout port" has to be the biggest joke ever. It might do something if you are mowing every other day and only 1/8" each time. I have to either pull the deck to clean it out our run up on ramps and peel it out by hand.

Mine blows snow well but the tractor REALLY doesn't like to back up any sort of incline even with chains and extra weight. Parking area is no problem but I have to blow down hill between the barns (where the Bernoulli effect can pile 10X the amount of snow that fell everywhere else) to get to the chickens and do a LOT of back and forthing in the barnyard beyond to make a cul de sac so I can get back up the hill.

I love it. I have been thinking of a whole bag feeder for some time but one sided. some times its best not to over think just.. DO...

deb

Wouldn't work here. If I don't dump it in the 10 gallon metal cans as soon as I get it home, the mice will have a hole in the bag by morning.

 

[aart]

Quote: I was thinking the same, might work good for meat birds as they are doing tho.....
....but how do you open the bag and get in place?
That post is 3 years old, @xC0000005 hasn't been active since then.

That was what was stopping me when I was considering the idea. The way I was going to use it was a one sided feeder sitting outside of the chainlink then having a wood or plastic barrier that had a feeding slot in it. Then slap the feed upside down against the shelf and wall and bungee it in place... NO pecking then... I could even use paper packaged feed.

but how to open it once its in place because I am NOT flipping the whole unit over....

deb
Would have to fashion a special cutter (with xacto, utility or one sided razor blade) that reached up thru the base to slit the bag.

Quote: The 'fjords' don't get in the way-I just clamp blade to sawhorse and use angle grinder to sharpen, and they help create more drawup for longer cutting.
Key is that they are 1/4" thick, twice the thickness and weight of standard blades..so heavy the newly rebuilt Kohler wouldn't turn them until the rings were seated.
They will cut thru grass 3 times as long, thick and succulent growth than a standard blade...and a 1"+ sapling of you knock it down with the front tire first.
Works good here doing trails thru the woods and I don't mow the yards(note I don't say 'lawn') very often, and some of the fields get a foot high before I cut them once or twice a year.

Grinding/sanding smooth and really slick paint can help with clippings sticking underneath...I just scrape it when sharpening blades, but I don't catch clippings anyway.

No, they don't back up on a snow covered hill well at all, too much weight on front. I only throw going forward uphill then back up down cleared area.

 

[bruceha2000]

Would have to fashion a special cutter (with xacto, utility or one sided razor blade) that reached up thru the base to slit the bag.

The 'fjords' don't get in the way-I just clamp blade to sawhorse and use angle grinder to sharpen, and they help create more drawup for longer cutting.
Key is that they are 1/4" thick, twice the thickness and weight of standard blades..so heavy the newly rebuilt Kohler wouldn't turn them until the rings were seated.
They will cut thru grass 3 times as long, thick and succulent growth than a standard blade...and a 1"+ sapling of you knock it down with the front tire first.
Works good here doing trails thru the woods and I don't mow the yards(note I don't say 'lawn') very often, and some of the fields get a foot high before I cut them once or twice a year.

Grinding/sanding smooth and really slick paint can help with clippings sticking underneath...I just scrape it when sharpening blades, but I don't catch clippings anyway.

No, they don't back up on a snow covered hill well at all, too much weight on front. I only throw going forward uphill then back up down cleared area.

Thanks! I'm getting some for next year, they aren't even expensive. Cheaper than the mulching blades from Sears for sure. When you say (note I don't say 'lawn') does that suggest a pretty rough cut or that you are cutting pretty rough stuff, not "manicured lawn", attesting to the strength of the blades? I don't have a bowling green lawn, far from it, but it would be nice if the part around the house didn't look like it got chopped with hedge clippers

The grass has been sticking inside the deck since it was brand new off the truck with the paint all shiny. I don't catch clippings either, I generally use the mulching blades. I use the regular blades and chute mostly first and last mow of the season or if I go into the fields. In a perfect world, the tiny bits of grass would land on on the ground. I guess since they are being spun very rapidly, they stick to the deck instead.

 

[aart]

Quote: Some of my yard areas have lush thick lawn type grass, some of the field areas have sparse but tougher plants and saplings...gator blades cut through them all.

Bad mower deck discharge.....first thing to check is are the blades installed correct side up(angled part blade goes up).....
.......and is belt installation correct for cutting edge first rotation...both easier than you might think to get backwards, I've done both.