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I have only 8 chickens right now, so you may need to use more feeders than I have depending on how competitive they are at feeding time. I also only add the amount of feed that seems right for them to eat in one day. I feed a mash, which they sure do pick through and TRY to rake out and spray everywhere! At first I made a home-made gravity fed PVC pipe feeder with holes drilled but they found ways to poop in it from time to time, and they could get all the feed to flow to the bottom because I have a few clever birds. Then they would rake it out and waste it. Mine also rarely will eat spilled feed!
What I did is actually very simple and DIY. I just searched online to see if anyone else has done it, and it seems a few folks have.
This is the closest I can find. If you can give me a day or two, I can get photos of mine as well.
(not my site or photos
http://toolmakingart.com/2008/06/10/chicken-feeders/
Anyhow, I took a clean 5 gallon bucket and cut holes for the birds to stick their heads into. Now, the key to preventing waste, is to cut the holes higher than shown in that image, and a bit smaller. Tall, narrow holes with all rounded edges and no sharp burrs seem the best. You will have to judge the height and size of your chickens as you don't want them to get abrasion from the edges of the holes. You want the holes just large enough to comfortably stick their neck and head in, and high enough that they can not "shovel" feed out with their beaks, but not so high that they rub their throat on the hole in order to feed. Does this make sense?
The above image also has a gravity fed PVC pipe and/or inverted water bottles placed into the middle. This would make them gravity fed as well. If you feed a LOT of birds with few feeders, this might be a good idea. For my small flock, I get away with two buckets, with holes, and NO PVC pipe. I just dump half a day's rations into each bucket and put the lid on. I place the buckets under my "poop board" so that the chickens can not jump onto them or roost/poop on them. I have some cinder blocks that elevate them out of the bedding. It is just right for my large fowl. You could also hang them if you have room for it. If you do hang it, make sure it is low enough that they won't harm their throats to peck "down" into the bucket at the feed.
The bucket makes it so that they can't get a foot in there to scratch it out with a foot, the holes are high so that as they fling it, the sides of the bucket contain the feed. The lid keeps poop out and also excess dust and litter. It is very easy to clean, keep dry, and monitor how much feed they are eating and what, if anything, they leave behind.
Oh wow, AWESOME Nambroth and HUGE thank you for this. Right now, after the bear attack, ( I thought I was at least done with building, sigh ) I had to reinvent things to get them all inside an electric fence set up, so have many smaller coops, with smaller lots of birds in them with runs that lead into a large one. It was a quick, temp solution until we can get more fencing and get it up. So I have only one feeder per coop. So far, and I stand and watch them, or go out if I hear a noise that someone is not happy, no one is being kept from the feed. They DO take turns though. It's pretty funny to watch the "waiting line" as they impatiently wait their turn.
I went to town today, a bit of a drive and no one had the antibiotic casportpony suggested might work nor did they have any Duramycin-10 and no idea when they will. I am very rural so don't have many options. I was able to get the last bag of corid though. Must be lots of cocci lately as our TSC usually has plenty. It's been really really wet here. I live in the mountians, near the summit of a mountain, which is great for drainage, but bad for rain as it's usually a deluge and goes on for days lately.
I decided to give everyone a "maintinance" dose of the corid. The little pullet in the house was showing signs of re-infection with the cocci and some of the young-un's also. We must have a pretty resilient strain here. That cockerel is still eating and drinking, so maybe some more corid will help him out? His comb, and this may be wishful thinking, looked a tad more pink today. The heat broke, so we are in the lower 70's right now with last night being 46 F. That link that casportpony put up, if I read it correctly, said some forms of that infection? can resolve on it's own I believe. Maybe I will get lucky and read it right and some prayers might give us a break on this??? I sure hope so, as I have used up most of my med kit really fast this year. The whole bear attack sure did mess up more than a few chickens and me too. It actually attacked me, as well as getting 5 birds before I could get the fencing and get it up.
I grabbed all the feeders, they are also DIY
I do now have the phone number of that store that sells cat and dog stuff, so will call and check to see if they order any baytril. The lady wasn't sure if they carry it or not. It's a small mom and pop kinda place and mom and pop were out.
I'll look over that link and reread your post and see about getting some more 5 gallon buckets. It's a really great idea and especially for this winter, probably a must anyway. I really wasn't sure if the FF was gong to be a viable option this winter. Thanks again for taking the time to explain in detail and for the link. I sure do appreciate is so much!!!!
