Homemade 'top' for handing feeders?

[gabby3535]

Can anyone give me some ideas what to use, or how to make, an easy 'top' for hanging feeders............(you know the kind
that have open tops where you pour feed in, and have a metal handle/hanger thingy to suspend them with).......
so the chickens can't sit on the rim and poo into the feed?
Non of the feeders at TSC had tops available
Perhaps a frizbee with a slot made along the top to pass the handle/hanger thru?
Any other ideas?
Thanks!

 

[lavandula girl]

I use one of those tin foil pie plates that they sell at the grocery, or at the dollar store. I don't have the perching problem, but one of my feeders is in an area of the run where the food can get wet in bad weather. So it gets covered. I cut a hole in the center just wide enough to thread the hanging wire through. The pie plate slides up and down on the wire so I can fill the feeder.

 

[Big Chicken Little]

String wire in a web so they can not sit and you can still fill the feeder. Wire that is used for concrete re-bar tying is good as it is cheap, strong and very easy to work with. You can put a washer in the middle of your "spider web" to keep the center all together nicely.

 

[Jolly_Rancher]

I rolled up one of my old scratched up "disposable" plastic/flexible cutting boards (3 to a package) into a cone shape & stapled it.
That way they can't even land on it.. I left a center hole just big enough to lower over the center stake and can still hang the feeder if I choose.

 

[orangecrate]

how about a plastic garbage can lid witha hole in center
to slide up to put feed in

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Is your feeder the kind with a metal U-shaped handle like a bucket or the kind with the single threaded metal center stem held with a wing nut that has a metal loop on its top? Is your only concern the chickens that perch & poop on it, or are you trying to keep out the weather too?

If you're just trying to keep the birds off, then you could simply attach something large & light, like empty plastic gallon bottles, to the hanging hook.

The other materials suggested would be good for keeping the top covered, you could also use plastic plant saucers. They cut & drill easily and are inexpensive.

 

[Jenski]

We popped a hole in a plastic Folgers coffee lid and threaded the metal hanger through it for our one-gallon feeder. Works like a charm, and it's bendable so I can pour feed in without taking it off.

Hope that helps.

 

[Tweeza]

I had the same problem because of a small coop and they perch over the feeder. I use the round card board that a 16 inch pizza comes on, from Sam's Club. I cut a slit in the middle and thread the handle and hanging chain through the slit. The poop dries and falls off when I put feed in and I change it every so often. Tee hee hee my husband thought I was really good at cutting circles in cardboard. He asked me how I got it cut so perfect. I was like huh? It works for me and it's free.