Latest Feeder - Took Ideas From Everywhere!

[jlwquilter]

we've gone thru several feeder styles. We always liked the pvc feeders but changed to a 5 gallon bucket with a small hole to dispense feed when our flock expanded. It worked but sometimes it seemed the lower ranked girls didn’t get all they wanted to eat.

After looking at a lot of homemade feeders we decided to do this, taking ideas from lots feeders clever people designed.

We get little waste, multiple feed ports, can close off any/all ports as desired, it uses less floor space, height is at an easy to fill level, it’s easy to see how much food is in the bin (it takes about 65 pounds max).

We used a solidly built bar height chair I picked up out of the garbage (1 of 4 - I hope to recover the other soon for use in the shed). We removed the seat, cut 2 layers of scrap plywood for the base (to get a thick collar), cut holes in it that for the pvc pipe to fit tightly into, added a front and side bars to keep the bin from getting accidentally shifted, then screwed it onto the chair sides.

The bin is a regular tote bought at Walmart we had. We cut holes in the bottom slightly smaller than the pvc pipe diameter to act as a sorta funnel. Filled it with food.

We used scrap coated wire hinged to the wall to discourage anyone from landing and pooping on the lid. The hinge effect allows it to be swung up and secured to a cup hook attached to the wall to get it out of the way when needed.

The separate feed tube to the right is one of the old pvc feeders. It’s now filled with layer pellets - the bin is filled with flock raiser crumble.

The bottoms of the ‘Y’ tubes have plastic drink cups in them to take up that space. We also bought the screw on end caps for the Ys for future easy cleaning.

While we hope not to have to move the feed station it can be disassembled in a few minutes. We would need to scoop out any feed first which is not a big deal and also easy to do.

The pvc fittings cost less than $50 from Lowes. Everything else we already had - and most of that was scrap or garbage finds.

We think the feed will last 3+ weeks as they get fermented feed also. We are testing that as we do go on a 3 week vacation next month. We want the neighbor watching the chickens to not have to fill any feeder. Plus I don’t have to fill it often either!

It’s only been 2 days but so far so good!

 

[trumpeting_angel]

Looks wonderful! I’m trying to figure out mine.

 

[jlwquilter]

I was telling my husband how great it is that there’s so many different ways people feed and water their chickens. I love all the ideas and clever things everyone does.

 

[123RedBeard]

So ... what does the inside look like?

Curious to see how much is left in the bottom of the tote, when the pipes are empty ...

 

[jlwquilter]

I won’t know that for a few weeks yet - I’m guessing 2+ weeks. I hope! I’m not touching it until the pipes stop auto filling. I anticipate that there will be quite a bit of feed left at that point in the area surrounding the pipe openings. I will then open the top and sweep the remaining feed into the pipes - there will be feed still in the pipes when it stops auto filling.

At that time I’ll know how long it takes for the chickens to eat thru the auto feed, how much feed is left to sweep into the pipes and how easy it is to see when that point is reached. I can already see divots forming in the feed over the pipe holes at 2 days. It’ll all depend on how the waterfall action develops.

I’ll post back as the trial continues!

 

[BreanneRN]

Hey, that looks good! I'll be following... I do have a question, why the Y configuration, won"t elbows work? Just wondering. I would like to build some of these so I can leave home, or just not have to worry about feeding the chickens some of the time...

 

[jlwquilter]

I’ve seen the bin feeders with elbows. We wanted to be able to open the bottoms for cleaning. Probably elbows would be fine too. We are big people and have big hands and I didn’t want to scrape my hands reaching in. And honestly we used Ys before so we gravitated to them this time too!

 

[sealer39]

Jwl,
Cool set up!
I use that type of feeder also. I have two feeders, 4” wyes stepped up to 6” tubes for my 12 chickens. Those will keep them feed for about two weeks also.
Tips:
You will want to clean out all the tubes every time the bin empties. That old feed at the bottom of the tubes will go bad and attract maggots or other bugs.
With your set up, the cups used for spacers may be best but you can also buy “punch out caps” that will fit at the bottom of your wyes. They work well for me because when I need to clean the tubes, I just turn them upside down to dump the powder out.
I’m also mixing a little food grade DE in the feed.

 

[jlwquilter]

Divots as of this morning. It’s easy to see if they prefer some tubes over the others - deeper divots.

 

[jlwquilter]

Jwl,
Cool set up!
I use that type of feeder also. I have two feeders, 4” wyes stepped up to 6” tubes for my 12 chickens. Those will keep them feed for about two weeks also.
Tips:
You will want to clean out all the tubes every time the bin empties. That old feed at the bottom of the tubes will go bad and attract maggots or other bugs.
With your set up, the cups used for spacers may be best but you can also buy “punch out caps” that will fit at the bottom of your wyes. They work well for me because when I need to clean the tubes, I just turn them upside down to dump the powder out.
I’m also mixing a little food grade DE in the feed.

Thanks for the reminder. We do plan on a thorough cleaning when it’s time to refill the bin. I live in SE Florida and it’s hot and humid and the potential for moldy feed is always on my mind.