Homemade Feeders/Waterer

[concrete_boots]

I like th tubing idea, that couldn’t hurt for me to do. It’s hard to tell exactly how much gets spilled out with the chips on the floor..when I clean out every 7-10 days I just rake out all the chips into the run and there’s like maybe half a cup of food mixed in so that’s pretty good I think

 

[culturalinfidel]

All are great ideas that I have seen here. I built our feed tube(tall white tube next to nest box)many moons ago, but, havent used it in a few years. We may start using it again as I build and expand our coop/run. 4" straight PVC into a 4"Y with about 6" straight below the Y to lift off of the ground. I now go out to the coop daily to feed. Gives me a little exercise in the mornings. Our waterer system is the small bucket down to 1" PVC pipe with screw cap ends for clean out and 5 nipples on the PVC. Girls love it. We also have a 5 gallon galvanized water fount that a neighbor gave us.

For those curious, I am working on putting roofing over the entire run and eventually expanding the run an additional 4' out.

 

[ChickenFatHead]

I've had pretty good success with the above design. Someone mentioned to watch out for rats trying to eat through the lid and I'm keeping a close eye out. I may lace the lid with cayenne pepper as a deterrent if necessary. This will hold a 40lbs bag of feed and is accessible from outside the coop. In hindsight the lid needs a little work to be easier to pour the feed into by making the opening taller.

 

[BReeder!]

I don't understand not wanting chickens to get feed on the floor. It doesn't bother me a bit. We feed in the coop. Anything they get on the floor gets in the bedding. Then they scratch through the bedding and get every last crumb.
Now quail on the other hand... they are messy little buggers! I swear my quail flick more food out of their feeder than they eat. I just keep it on a solid floor area of their cage though and they end up eating the flicked out feed once the feeder is empty.

 

[aart]

I don't understand not wanting chickens to get feed on the floor. It doesn't bother me a bit. We feed in the coop. Anything they get on the floor gets in the bedding. Then they scratch through the bedding and get every last crumb.

Not sure I'd bet on that...especially if you are feeding a crumble formulation....unless you are not keeping feeder full daily.

 

[micstrachan]

I just made this waterer I used both cups and nipples. I added a hose shut off valve so I can drain and clean it. It's made using 4" pipe. Holds 5 gallons of water...
Tomorrow time allowing I will make my feeders.

I love this!

 

[aart]

I just made this waterer I used both cups and nipples. I added a hose shut off valve so I can drain and clean it. It's made using 4" pipe. Holds 5 gallons of water...
Tomorrow time allowing I will make my feeders.

Nice!
Is it just gravity fed, not attached to the garden hose?
Must be vertical nipples hanging below(can't see them)?
Do they prefer the cups or nipples?

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[archeryrob]

Yea, I'm with aart. I only live in Maryland and making something like that would probably have to be drained from mid november until march or it would shatter from freezing.

 

[EdenHallow]

We started with an open water dish and they, obviously, did perfect. Then we bought a heated waterer for winter with horizontal nipples. It took them about 5 seconds to figure it out. That waterer was destroyed by a raccoon, so we made a pvc waterer with vertical nipples for summer and they can’t seem to figure it out.
I had hand/wrist surgery and can’t get the lid off of the open waterer very easily, but I’m afraid they’ll get dehydrated if I take it away so they’ll try the new one.

 

[SHillChickMan]

i take a 5 gallon bucket and attach a metal feed pan to the bottom and cut out some triangular holes in the bucket, it costs me about 8$!

Thats what I do.....plus I run a long bolt up through the middle of the bucket and put a funnel upside down in the bucket to push the feed to the sides. Works great