I need to get demand feeder...

[IggiMom]

I am really having a hard time feeding my birds. They fly at the troughs in a big clump when I am trying to put the feed in, so I cannot feed them. I do give them enough feed, they are in good shape, but I guess are just acting like chickens as if they are starving.

So I am wondering if I could put their feed in a large feeder and they could eat when they want to.

The cone shaped plastic feeders don't last very long in my experience.

Can anyone suggest a good demand feeder that you can put a lot of food into? Then the chickens can eat their food and go out to 'graze' in the pasture.

Catherine

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Yes! I have never heard of not free-feeding. I hang the plastic ones in the shade, that helps them last. But... I recently saw someone using regular bird feeders, like for wild birds. Those are a lot cheaper than feed store ones.

 

[Sandi630]

We made one out of a 5 gallon bucket with a lid and a baking pan. Cut four holes at the bottom of the bucket and screwed the bucket into baking pan. Works pretty well and holds quite a bit of food. Made a water in the same fashion. Much cheaper then buying them at the feed store.

 

[LakeMomNY]

I use this feeder: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...te-5-gallon-25-feed-bucket-feeder-for-about-3

It was SO easy to make (I used a utility knife to cut the hole in the bucket, as I didn't have the correct size hole saw. It worked fine.)

Chickens use it easily. There is no mess, no waste. It was cheap. I used a new solid white bucket, so mine looks "neat and tidy". I also used a gamma lid, so it is easy to fill.

It holds 25 pounds of food.

Mice can't get in.
Poop can't get in.
Litter can't get in.
Water can't get in.

Can you tell that I love this feeder?

 

[smcgill]

Build your own!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/building-a-treadle-chicken-feeder

I did and the girls are using it without problems!

 

[yyz0yyz0]

I built one of these out of a 5 gal pail. I can go two weeks without needing to fill it for 8 birds.

www.triggerhappychickens.co.uk

I originally had the tray on the ground as shown in the video but they kept pooping in it and tracking dirt and other stuff into the tray with the food. so I cut the bottom off another 5 gal pail and used some wire to suspend it below the feed bucket. Now they can't step in it, they just reach in and tap the trigger and eat what they want. I can tell when the feed is almost gone as the tray will be totally clean, if there's lots of food falling each time then they only eat the pellets but when it starts to get low they eat the dust as well. It works with all types of feed, just need to make the correct size hole for whatever feed you use.
My only complaint is that as the bucket gets low the food tends to form a reverse cone, so there will still be quite a bit of food in the feeder but it won't fall out unless I tap the bucket to level it out again. Besides that I love the feeder, with the tray being off the ground it really reduced the rodent problems as well.

 

[woody1]

Build your own!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/building-a-treadle-chicken-feeder

I did and the girls are using it without problems!

I think I built one using those plans. I know I have a copy of them and I've built several.....well 3. I have problems with birds and mice getting into the feed. The first one I built is pretty large and as you say, heavy and I mounted it to the wall to maximize floor space for the hens. I also noted the most costly item in your list is the screw posts. Since I'm a thrifty soul (cheapskate?) and have the tools to do it, I made my hinge posts from nails and only had to buy washers and locknuts.

 

[Michael56]

I am really having a hard time feeding my birds. They fly at the troughs in a big clump when I am trying to put the feed in, so I cannot feed them. I do give them enough feed, they are in good shape, but I guess are just acting like chickens as if they are starving.

So I am wondering if I could put their feed in a large feeder and they could eat when they want to.

The cone shaped plastic feeders don't last very long in my experience.

Can anyone suggest a good demand feeder that you can put a lot of food into? Then the chickens can eat their food and go out to 'graze' in the pasture.

Catherine

I am using peckomatic demand feeder for more than 6 months and my birds are happy with their demand feeder. We can use 5-gallon and some 3 1/2-gallon round plastic pails for storing feed and we can cover the top of the pail with the lid of pail. And the feeds fall from the feeder whenever the chickens peck on the red catch dish of the Peckomatic demand feeder for food. There is video of chickens using chicken demand feeder in their site.