homemade & cheap chick feeder

[MomMommyMamma]

I can find plenty of feeders (PVC) for larger chickens. Anyone made one more specific to chicks? We have some 1 wk old chicks in the brooder and they're starting to kick wood shavings into their little feed dish and poo in it, soon they'll be knocking it over. We have a PVC feeder in the big coop - wondering if anyone has something similar for chicks? I tried to cut holes into a honey jar but it was too difficult. The holes were either too small or too big. And then they dumped it all out anyway.

 

[Uzuri]

Cut head-sized holes in the side of a milk-carton (the round dimples in the sides of many brands are just about the right size) and tie, nail, or otherwise fix the carton to the side of the brooder. Be sure to raise it so it's not on the floor but they can still reach.

Mine ate quite happily out of two of these; they never climbed in and the holes were the wrong shape and too small to really scratch food out of.

These only really work on chicks -- once your combs start getting big, somebody's going to manage to catch it on the cut edge of the carton, which is a little sharp (had this happen to my rooster when I was isolating him; I just couldn't get the hole cut big enough no matter what I tried). A bit of creative work with tape would fix that, but mine were out of the brooder before it became an issue.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Here's my chick feeder. http://cmfarm.us/ChickFeeder.html
Watch the chicks use it live here. http://cmfarm.us/cam_1.html