How do you store your poultry feed?

[cluckcluckluke]

i use 100% metal rodents can eatily chew through plastic, but i suppose if you check daily for signs of chewing you will have to act on it.

 

[Izzymoon]

I bought a chest at Sam's club, it's hard plastic and works great, not only store food, but all the chicken stuff (PDZ, extra hay for nesting boxes, AC vinegar, and all the scoops and other things I need. Stays super dry. Great investment. I keep it up on my porch so it won't get too wet from weather, and also easier for me to gather food, water accessories and then go out to the coop. Cost about $89.00. I have no indoor space on the coop (yet) Maybe in time I'll build a little shed off it. My food is stored in a metal trash can I think 6-8 inches tall, that easily fits inside.

 

[Our Roost]

Well, at first we kept them in the sacks they were purchased in. Chipmonks, other critters and mice forced a move to a plastic garbage can with snap down lid. The chipmonks and mice ate thru that like candy to get to the feed. Now we have a galvanized garbage can that is unpenetrable! Feed, oyster shells, and gravel grit can be mixed inside the can. Our scoop and feed pail is stored within. Surprizingly, it is sufficient enough for our needs with 20 birds. Mice dont eat our oyster shellsThe coop is next to the ga or gravel, so we store those bags on a shelf until needed for mixing. The coop is behind the garage so it the perfect place for storage during inclement weather. Use your plastic pails for scooping fecal wastes and water containers with nipple feeders. Good find on the buckets! They have multiple uses.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

I'm using these lids called gamma lids on 5 gal buckets: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/714505/where-do-you-store-your-feed

 

[growyourbrew]

I just store mine in the kitchen!

 

[Ooshabooboobaby]

Currently we store our chicken food in the center of the kitchen floor. We have 3 mouse killers (2 cats, 1 mouse killing yorkie) in the house so the way I figure it... Any mouse brave enough and smart enough to get away with stealing chicken food deserves his meal haha

 

[Red Barn Farms]

We don't have rats here but mice are a PITA and chew through stuff like you wouldn't believe, being a stronger plastic it will take longer but they will eventually get through.. they are determined buggers.

Those plastic pails look much like the ones our cat litter comes in. We reuse them for a lot of things, but I've been uneasy about using them for feed. I'm mainly concerned that I might be unable to get all the kitty litter chemicals out and it might be toxic to my birds. Rodents aren't a concern (as the giant vats of cat litter may indicate!), but I'm wondering if any of you have used them and, if so, did you notice any ill effects?

Curious, too, about whether the cans are water tight. I saw someone else asking about this -- sorry if I missed an answer somewhere.

I can see your concern here and would be afraid to use them myself. One option might be adding a heavy duty liner in each bucket if you did decide to use them for feed. My buckets all contained cake frosting. Mainly butter cream frosting. That made the price of the buckets being FREE even a sweeter deal!

 

[Red Barn Farms]

Being in the city, I only have 7 hens... so, I don't have a need to keep a mountain of feed around at any given time... however, I do like to buy 2 bags at a time.

This bin holds a little more than a bag and a half. I fill the feeders with the rest of the second bag, and it lasts a good while.






We have too many clever wild animals around here that I wouldn't even trust a metal can outside. So, I keep mine in the house next to where I keep the bin for the dogs' food.

The dogs don't bother it, the cats don't bother it, and there are no mice or any other rodents of unusual sizes in the house who bother it. Also, I can maintain a nice low humidity level to keep it from crumbling to dust before I get to the bottom of the bin and need a refill.

I really do like this container you use. Makes it so simple having the door on top. I might just have to invest in one myself. It would work great for storing starter feed for our baby chicks.

 

[Red Barn Farms]

If you battle the never ending problem of mice and or rats again let me emphasize the fact about getting rid of these rodents on your property for good. We have used ultrasonic pest repellent sound machines on our farm for years now. We started using them in the mid 1980's to help protect our corn which we had stored in silos for cattle. At that time we had about six of these sound machines arranged at various locations around the barns and they really do get the job done. Once we had them set up within the first few weeks we noticed fewer and fewer mice running around. Within a month we were free of these pests. The machine omits an ultrasonic sound at 26-74Khz at 105 decibels from the built in speaker and cannot be heard by the human ear or larger animals like chickens, etc. It works for mice, rats, bats, cockroaches, spiders. If you have rabbits you will not want the machines close to them. The machines do the job! The ones we purchased lasted for years.

 

[aoxa]

I really do like this container you use. Makes it so simple having the door on top.  I might just have to invest in one myself.  It would work great for storing starter feed for our baby chicks.  

I actually saw this container at Homesense It was roughly 30-40$

Didn't think it could fit that much though!