Easy "Mess-free" Modification to PVC feeder

[bryoria]

I haven't seen this mod anywhere and wanted to share it. We made a couple of PVC pipe feeders for our new pullets, and love how much food they hold and how little space they take up, but we found that the shape of the Wye connector allows the food to sit too high in the feeder - it almost spills out the front and some gets wasted.

To fix this, I cut the rim and bottom off a 650ml yogurt container with scissors and sat it inside the inner tube. The long PVC pipe fits in next and holds it in place. Making the inside tube deeper forces the feed to level off at a much lower point - still within easy pullet reach (this little EO girl is about 10 weeks), but not so high that they can spill it out. You can see it sitting inside in this photo:



Hope this helps someone else too!

P.S. Apologies to the mods - this was my first post and I made a newb mistake and accidentally posted it in the wrong section. Meant to have it in Feeding & Watering. Can it be moved?

 

[RJSorensen]

That is an interesting modification, I'll have to get something and see it it works for me as well. Thanks,

RJ

 

[Ankhdad]

Do you have anymore pics of the feed system? Thinking of something like that and would love to see you set up.

Thanks, Keith

 

[yyz0yyz0]

That is an interesting mod to the PVC feeder design.

If someone wanted to do something similar but could not find the correct size container, it appears that a piece of of a large enough plastic jug glued to the pvc riser pipe would do the same job.

Great idea.

 

[bryoria]

I will try to get some more photos. I looked on the internet to find one just like ours, but they are all a little different. Stay tuned!

 

[bryoria]

Here is a photo of all the parts broken down (click for larger):



From right to left (bottom of feeder to top):

1. End cap, snug fitting to fit 4" PVC pipe.
2. Small piece of 4" PVC to connect the end cap to the Wye connector. To raise the feeder, you can just make this piece longer.
3. ​
   Chip dip container, which covers the piece of base PVC perfectly and prevents feed from sitting down in the bottom where chickens can't reach it and it will just go moldy.
4. Wye connector
5. 650 mL yogurt tub, with rim and bottom cut off so it nestles nicely inside the Wye connector and makes the food level off nice and low so it won't spill out. The chickens really have to reach in to eat.
6. 4" PVC tube - I had to buy a full 10' piece. I had the hardware store cut it in half and then trimmed it at home with a hand saw to make two feeders.
7. Orange cap (loose fitting, so it's easy to refill the feeder from the top)

I just fit the pieces together by hand, no glue. To attach the feeder to the wall we use a bungee cord attached to two nails - makes it really easy to remove to fill the feeder or clean around it. To give some rain protection on the outside feeder, we added a dog e-collar (cone collar) around the main pipe to make a little roof! Also discovered that a yogurt lid snaps onto the feeder outlet perfectly for night-time covering, if needed.

Here is a video tour of the feeder:

 

[Ankhdad]

That is great! Thanks very much for the details..and a video to boot!
I am going into incorporate this into my coop design.

 

[thoth3g]

Nice, thinking that i'll do something similar but at the top come out of a wall so it can be filled without going into the coop!