Feed saver and rain protection

[Smileybans]

I combined a feed saver idea I saw and a rain protector idea I saw. This isn’t ingenious but it solved two of my problems. I thought I’d share. It is also the first real thing I built by myself. My husband is usually the one building the stuff around here. He’s better at math and knowing math helps a lot when building I found. This time though we disagreed on a design so he just left it up to me and it did work out.

This is the first one.

It doesn’t work the way I envisioned but I fixed that for the second and third ones. The idea is that the white bit slides out the front holding the feed so I can then dump it back into the feeder or wherever if the feed is wet/dirty. This proved to be more work than it was worth. I had to cut the hole for the white to slide out of and then when the feeder was placed on top it bent the HC.

This is design two and three.

The first image is just me figuring out how to make the second feeder better. The second is the two feeders strapped to my wagon. How I get the food out of the feeders is the same for 2 and 3. The wire lifts and the white comes out. But I made a solid wood floor so the feeder has more to rest on and didn’t cut a hole in the front of two and three.

I wanted something I could make cheaply. All of the wood I got off Craigslist for free. The rest of the stuff I had lying around. I wanted to make sure I could make these functional and cheap. So far they’re both. The chickens prefer to stand on the ledge of the wood rather than the wire and opening the wire has worked out so far. The only thing that is difficult is removing the feeders. I think I may run into an issue with number 1 because of the hole in the front. It might let in too much wet. Defeating the point of trying to save the feed.

 

[cavemanrich]

Looks like you are using crumbles as feed. I switched loooooooooong ago to pellets, and would never use crumbles,,,(except in small quantities if I had young chicks.)
I feed my chickens from retired kitchen bowls. I know approximate amount to place daily. I also feed them scratch and other treats in a separate bowl. If I see somewhat too much feed billed out on ground,,, I just hold back on amount of feed the next day. The feed gets picked clean my method.
Your IDEA is good if it works for you.
I need to remove feed bowls every night when I lock up chickens. The raccoon nation and other creatures would be attracted to the feed.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Smileybans]

Looks like you are using crumbles as feed. I switched loooooooooong ago to pellets, and would never use crumbles,,,(except in small quantities if I had young chicks.)
I feed my chickens from retired kitchen bowls. I know approximate amount to place daily. I also feed them scratch and other treats in a separate bowl. If I see somewhat too much feed billed out on ground,,, I just hold back on amount of feed the next day. The feed gets picked clean my method.
Your IDEA is good if it works for you.
I need to remove feed bowls every night when I lock up chickens. The raccoon nation and other creatures would be attracted to the feed.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I’ll probably switch to pellets some day. But I’ve had so many other issues this year, not strictly chicken related, switching their feed is not something high on my list. I’ve only been through one full year of chicken keeping so I’m still trying to figure it all out. I haven’t been able to catch any animals eating my feed, that was my first suspicion, on my cameras. My electric fence seems to keep the big animals out. It was the smaller ones like rats and squirrels I had to worry about. I did get covers for those feeders and had been losing the same amount of feed. Once I put these in I realized how much I was losing.
I wish feed bowls would work for me. But I can barely remember to remove waterers so they don’t freeze. Let alone if my children were to lock up the chickens. God forbid I add more chores to a 9 year olds list.

 

[tigger19687]

1)

Raise that feed up MUCH HIGHER ! The openings should be about where the top of where it is now or very slightly lower. It needs to be where they can get in it comfortably, not bend down or stretch their necks too much.
This will stop them from dragging it out.... unless you have a 'biller', in that case nothing will help hahaha

 

[Smileybans]

1)

Raise that feed up MUCH HIGHER ! The openings should be about where the top of where it is now or very slightly lower. It needs to be where they can get in it comfortably, not bend down or stretch their necks too much.
This will stop them from dragging it out.... unless you have a 'biller', in that case nothing will help hahaha

Can do. I’m pretty sure I can support it with a couple bricks, and just to over do it because I’m crazy 2x4s, and it’ll be high enough. I have a couple cross beak chickens that drag the feed with them. Every time.

 

[tigger19687]

I have mine on cinder blocks

 

[Smileybans]

I raised the whole platform but the chickens still perfer, which I knew they would, to stand on the wooden ledge of the platform. So I had to raise the roof to bring the feeder up to. I’m much happier with it now actually.

 

[AntiqueB]

Looks good, @Smileybans !

 

[Smileybans]

Looks good, @Smileybans !

Thanks! It’s the first real thing I’ve built by myself. Usually I’m throwing ideas out there and my husband makes the plans. This one I did by myself.

 

[aart]

Thanks! It’s the first real thing I’ve built by myself. Usually I’m throwing ideas out there and my husband makes the plans. This one I did by myself.

That's the best way to learn.