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

[ChickCrazed]

Thats a great idea. I use a similar feeder but with a longer flat section at the bottom with holes in the top.

For my water tanks I have a plastic tube system like mentioned above, except I used 6mm electrical glands to hold the hose in place.



Your flag idea would work a treat for mine too and save me taking the lid off so much!

So glad I could help! I was definitely looking for "easy" and it really works! I follow your thread BTW

.

 

[bruceha2000]

I wanted to share my low feed alert system. I built several of the pvc feeders for my pens but wanted an easy way to see when they started getting low on feed. I tied a "flag" on one end of a long string, drilled a hole into the feeder and fed that string through and tied a weight on the end that is inside the feeder. The weight sits on top of the feed and as the feed level drops, the weight also drops and pulls the string. When the "flag" gets near the top of the feeder I know it is time to add feed. It enables me to know what the feed level is without going into each pen. I need to fashion something similar for the waterers. Anyway, I am proud of it and it was really easy to do. It could be added to most DIY feeders.

Nice idea! Curious: did you block the wye just below the angled piece so there isn't feed sitting in the bottom pipe? Seems like it could rot away down there.

Thanks! The dilemma with the waterers is that anything light enough to float isn't heavy enough to pull the string down (I would think). I will think about it and see if I can get something put together at some point.

Not all that hard

A bobber can hold up a fair bit of weight and that pipe is big enough for a pretty good sized bobber. Just attach a weight to the bottom of the bobber that is heavy enough to overcome the friction of the 'flag' string going through the hole and the weight at the bottom that will pull the string back down when you fill the pipe and the bobber rises.

excellent... I want to do something like that for my water tank.... How do you keep the ring on the PVC from catching.

deb

I think it is an optical illusion. The feeder is full and the bottom of the string is sitting at the bell of the wye fitting. If it were less full, the bottom of the string would be up on the pipe.

 

[ChickCrazed]

Nice idea! Curious: did you block the wye just below the angled piece so there isn't feed sitting in the bottom pipe? Seems like it could rot away down there.

I put gravel at the bottom up to the angled piece to prevent the moldy feed from being an issue, but you could block it off too. The feeder took me about 30 seconds to build, a super easy project if anyone is looking for an easy DIY feeder.

 

[PetRock]

Nice idea! Curious: did you block the wye just below the angled piece so there isn't feed sitting in the bottom pipe? Seems like it could rot away down there.

DH has made me several PVC feeders with the Y piece. I took a thin, flexible, plastic cutting "boards" and cut a circle that fit just below the Y piece and is held in place by the base piece of pipe. You can pick up a 4-5 piece package of the cutting boards/sheets at Ross for around $5. Many of the insert circles can be cut from 1 sheet.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: Excellent idea for blocking the bottom. How come you extended the length of the access point to the feed?

Can the chickens reach the bottom bits if they did finish the whole thing?

deb

 

[PetRock]

Excellent idea for blocking the bottom. How come you extended the length of the access point to the feed?

Can the chickens reach the bottom bits if they did finish the whole thing?

deb

We started off not having the extensions but the birds were able to sling the food out all over the ground. Just adding a small extension in the mouth of each feeder did away with that problem. We have hardly any food wasted now. I try to fill the feeders once a week but on the rare occasion where I let the girls empty the feeder, all that is left in the bottom is some dust. I just use my hand to pull it out of the feeder before refilling it.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Eggcellent.... VBG.

I had thought of filling the bottom with a bit of concrete like the kind for fence posts. But I am a plastics kind of gal... LOL. Long story.

Once I get my poultry started again I HAVE to come up with a reliable feeder that will hold enough to feed for 7 days at a time. With no inspections or checking to see if its doing its job.

With 35 or more chickens and about the same amount in guineas... I have to be able to fill with at least 50 lb bag of feed and walk away.

The PVC feeders may not work... but its worth an experiment or two.

deb


deb

 

[bruceha2000]

Eggcellent.... VBG.

I had thought of filling the bottom with a bit of concrete like the kind for fence posts. But I am a plastics kind of gal... LOL. Long story.

Once I get my poultry started again I HAVE to come up with a reliable feeder that will hold enough to feed for 7 days at a time. With no inspections or checking to see if its doing its job.

With 35 or more chickens and about the same amount in guineas... I have to be able to fill with at least 50 lb bag of feed and walk away.

The PVC feeders may not work... but its worth an experiment or two.

deb

I think the 'problem' with the PVC feeders like those we have been discussing is they work well for a small number of birds. You either need few birds or lots of feeders. You could devise a large hopper (10 gallons holds 50# of feed) with a distribution network of PVC pipe because I know you are a clever gal Deb!

 

[ChickCrazed]

I think the 'problem' with the PVC feeders like those we have been discussing is they work well for a small number of birds. You either need few birds or lots of feeders. You could devise a large hopper (10 gallons holds 50# of feed) with a distribution network of PVC pipe because I know you are a clever gal Deb!

You could do a taller PVC feeder made with 4" pvc to hold more. Or connect a 5 gallon bucket to the top of the pvc to hold more and feed the pvc tube. I have around 30 birds, 3 different pens and my 3" feeder will last each pen around 3 days. I used the 3" and wish I had used the 4".

 

[Irishhenman]

You could pet a big plastic box to go at the top of the PVC pipe and put in some angled pieces of plywood or plastic board in the bottom the make sure all the feed will go down the pipe and not get stuck in the corners.