Gravity tube feeders

[Al Gerhart]

This kind of feeder works fine until it doesn't. Keep a close eye on feed used per day, a quarter pound per bird, a bit more for ducks, ignore the rooster. In your case, 6.5 pounds of feed per day. I believe you posted the other day, or someone with the exact flock count and make up did, because you were feeding or wasting a lot of feed.

This feeder might help on the waste but it is a rat buffet.

Bottom line, you pay for a treadle feeder even when you don't own one.

 

[LyndallA]

Hey yall, this past Friday I switched from the old faithful hanging feeders that allow 360° access to feed, to a gravity tube feeder.

Ours is made from 1 5 ft by 3 inch piece of tubing (provides storage) which couples into a 3 inch WYE with a cap on the bottom that screws in and out to allow for easy cleaning of what's at the bottom. On the Y section that they eat out of we added another 3 inch piece of tubing to control spillage and minimize rodents.

All I will say is that if you're on the fence of trying out this type of feeder and changing from the hanging types, pull the trigger and do it ASAP.

Our flock is as follows:
19 laying hens
1 rooster
3 ducks
1 peacock

Normally, I would go out with a 3 QT scoop in the morning and throw 2 scoops into the hanging feeder and of course in typical chicken fashion they'd quickly attack the feeder and.... end up spilling 70% of it. Then again at night after putting them in for bed time, I'd put another 2 scoops into the hanging feeder, which would also spill. (Which leads to rodent problems).

I switched us to this DIY gravity tube feeder (which I did not use any glue on the tubing because I was worried about leeching chemicals) and I filled it up with 4 3QT scoops of feed on Friday at around 11 am. It's now Monday at 11 am, there's still about a scoop left in the tube feeder which I will probably refill tonight or tomorrow depending on what the levels are at bedtime tonight.

There's MINIMAL and I mean MINIMAL spillage from the chickens pecking and scratching out their food, it is ALOT more rodent proof (however as I'm finding out nothing is 100% rodent proof). All my birds can access it, even my ducks.

I feel like we have already saved massively on feed given how much less I've had to put in (which is 20% all flock pellets with scratch grains 1 bag of scratch grains for every 4 bags of all flock).

If you're thinking about swapping to this design of feeder I 100000000% encourage it.

Below are pictures of our old feeder vs our new feeder (note on the old hanging feeder the insane amounts of spilled food under it)

If yall have any advice to improve or any advice to fix any errors I've got with this setup please let me know but I wanted to tell yall how much more efficient this has been even just over 4 days especially with the fact we sell our eggs a lot so saving on feed costs only makes us able to save $ for more cartons, or to put that $ towards improving the quality of life for our chickens in their coop and run

 

[LyndallA]

Wow, this is helpful. I have a serious ground squirrel raiding problem and lose a lot of feed to them. Question: this year I have a 10x12 henhouse (vs. last year’s funky coop and net fencing). I’ll have 14 hens. Should I put gravity feeders in henhouse or outside in their yard?

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Wow, this is helpful. I have a serious ground squirrel raiding problem and lose a lot of feed to them. Question: this year I have a 10x12 henhouse (vs. last year’s funky coop and net fencing). I’ll have 14 hens. Should I put gravity feeders in henhouse or outside in their yard?

They only use the coop to sleep and lay, no sense in putting food in your coop that may invite even more critters.

 

[LyndallA]

They only use the coop to sleep and lay, no sense in putting food in your coop that may invite even more critters.

Thank you!

 

[thistlewick]

Your original hanging feeder was hanging too low.


It should be just slightly (a few millimeters) above the backs of your smallest chicken.

They have to reach up a little to eat, which they can and will do, and WAY less spillage.

 

[Lrnadoon]

Really? Mold? Was it quick or was it slow? Is there any way to deter it? We have never had issues with molding at all in any form of storage or feeder

I had the same issue with the feeders that cost A LOT to make! My feed got wet and then molded. My feeders were in a covered run. I feared my chickens would get sick. I just use the tradional feeder's now so I can control what is happening to the feed. Also, the PVC feeders are very hard to clean. This is just my experience, hopefully it won't be an issue for you.

 

[Alchemist]

Hey yall, this past Friday I switched from the old faithful hanging feeders that allow 360° access to feed, to a gravity tube feeder.

Ours is made from 1 5 ft by 3 inch piece of tubing (provides storage) which couples into a 3 inch WYE with a cap on the bottom that screws in and out to allow for easy cleaning of what's at the bottom. On the Y section that they eat out of we added another 3 inch piece of tubing to control spillage and minimize rodents.

All I will say is that if you're on the fence of trying out this type of feeder and changing from the hanging types, pull the trigger and do it ASAP.

Our flock is as follows:
19 laying hens
1 rooster
3 ducks
1 peacock

Normally, I would go out with a 3 QT scoop in the morning and throw 2 scoops into the hanging feeder and of course in typical chicken fashion they'd quickly attack the feeder and.... end up spilling 70% of it. Then again at night after putting them in for bed time, I'd put another 2 scoops into the hanging feeder, which would also spill. (Which leads to rodent problems).

I switched us to this DIY gravity tube feeder (which I did not use any glue on the tubing because I was worried about leeching chemicals) and I filled it up with 4 3QT scoops of feed on Friday at around 11 am. It's now Monday at 11 am, there's still about a scoop left in the tube feeder which I will probably refill tonight or tomorrow depending on what the levels are at bedtime tonight.

There's MINIMAL and I mean MINIMAL spillage from the chickens pecking and scratching out their food, it is ALOT more rodent proof (however as I'm finding out nothing is 100% rodent proof). All my birds can access it, even my ducks.

I feel like we have already saved massively on feed given how much less I've had to put in (which is 20% all flock pellets with scratch grains 1 bag of scratch grains for every 4 bags of all flock).

If you're thinking about swapping to this design of feeder I 100000000% encourage it.

Below are pictures of our old feeder vs our new feeder (note on the old hanging feeder the insane amounts of spilled food under it)

If yall have any advice to improve or any advice to fix any errors I've got with this setup please let me know but I wanted to tell yall how much more efficient this has been even just over 4 days especially with the fact we sell our eggs a lot so saving on feed costs only makes us able to save $ for more cartons, or to put that $ towards improving the quality of life for our chickens in their coop and run

Thank you for posting this! I’ve been considering these feeders as well. Really love that you explained what you used and shows photos!

 

[DonyaQuick]

It was slow, went to fill the feeder one day and saw something strange down in the tube, dumped all the feed out and there were clumps of moldy feed. I've never had an issue with any of my other feeders (open 360, and port) but these just didn't work out. I actually completely cleaned them out, let them fully dry and refilled them, thinking maybe it was a fluke, same thing happened again.

It's not just tube-type gravity feeders that have this kind of risk. I actually had trouble with condensation forming above feed level and dripping down on the first bucket-port feeders I built. I think it's because the lids were too tight fitting. Even though the feeder was completely rain-protected, with 90%+ humidity in the summers I'd literally come out in the morning and find the inside of the lid covered with water and dripping down onto the feed. Maybe something similar was happening with yours?

I also had terrible trouble with grain mites for the same reason of the feeder trapping warmer humid air above port level. So I didn't really get a chance to see mold most of the time, since the mites would get to it first and have a party. Both issues seem to have been aleviated by putting some small vents at the top above the highets feed level, and a more recent one I built is from a container that's actually made to allow some air circulation around the rim of the lid. I wonder whether that kind of thing might help with the tube-type gravity feeders.

 

[Al Gerhart]

The feed was insulating the filled portion of the PVC pipe, holding some heat from daylight hours (even if it was not in the sun). As the outside air cooled so did the unfilled upper part of the PVC pipe, the air inside the upper part of the PVC tube cooled below the dew point and the moisture in the air condensed on the inside of the pipe.

It might could be fixed by putting a low wattage old fashioned incandescent bulb inside to keep the unfilled part warmer. The heat might just stay at the top too and do nothing.