Latest Feeder - Took Ideas From Everywhere!

[Al Gerhart]

Clever but it will turn into a rat buffet before long.

 

[jlwquilter]

It’s possible of course. Luckily I have chix cameras and I review overnight video every few days. No rodents yet. Do have toads though. They don’t seem interested in the food or the hens. Frankly I don’t know why they keep coming in. I hope it’s to eat flying bugs.

 

[123RedBeard]

@jlwquilter Are you still happy with this feeder?

If you do get a rodent problem ... a few caps put on every night should cut that out ... providing your not off on vacation !

 

[jlwquilter]

Hi. Overall I’m still happy with it. It’s been very easy to fill and to clean. The chickens have no problem using it. Both crumbles and pellets flow easily.

I did have a moisture issue during the 3 weeks I was gone. I think it was condensation due to the bin not being opened often enough. I didn’t expect that to happen. I’ll have to come up with a solution at some point if I’ll be away for such an extended time - or I can simply ask the sitter to open the bin twice a week to get air exchange.

I expect that at some point the plastic bin itself will start to break down in my hot and humid south Florida home. When that happens I may explore moving to a more funnel shaped bin. But until them I’m happy to stick with this feeder structure.

 

[aart]

Great documentation!
Do you have any pics of it empty?
What do you do when it gets low, just refill or scoop all the older feed into tubes before refilling?
How long does it take 19(?) birds to go thru the 65#(?)of feed?

 

[jlwquilter]

I don’t have any pics of it taken apart but it’s getting empty so I’ll be taking it apart to clean probably this coming weekend. I’ll take pictures then. I plan to scoop the feed into the pipes and let the hens get it almost empty before I disassemble to reduce the amount of feed I’ll end of spilling due to being a clutz.

I’m down to 15 hens. I also installed an in the secured area compost bin several weeks ago (right before the 3 week vacation). The hens spend a lot of time in there digging away for biota. I think it’s reducing the amount of commercial feed they are consuming - which is the plan/hope - but I don’t have hard data on that.

I really like your funnel feeder @aart idea. I need something flatter however to go against the wall. Also I don’t recall how you fill your feeder. If it’s a fill and flip then I doubt I could do it myself (too heavy and awkward for me to handle). It’s a great feeder though! I’ll ruminate on how to adjust it to fit my needs when my current bin dry rots out (hopefully I’ll get at least a year out of it).

Oh and the toads. I was out in the run late at night a few days after I returned home. Saw a toad in the run trough feeder. I don’t have a camera there so they could have been in the feeder all the time even though it is almost always empty overnight (hens clean out the trough most days of fermented feed). Anyway I asked my husband to go kill the toad. He killed 13 of them just in the run! I only ever saw one in the coop at night so what the heck! A good thing is that once you kill a few toads in an area they take a few months to move back in. I still have not seen any evidence of rats or other creatures coming into the coop for feed. I hope it stays that way! Ick!

 

[aart]

I really like your funnel feeder @aart idea. I need something flatter however to go against the wall. Also I don’t recall how you fill your feeder.

Do you mean this one?
It's just a 5 gal bucket, but I top off feed daily for 15 birds:

Lid is cut and hinged with zipties, easy to fill:

 

[Cryss]

I really like your funnel feeder @aart idea. I need something flatter however to go against the wall.

I have seen funnels with one flat side but they are small. Maybe they make bigger ones? I've also seen flat sided buckets, mostly feed buckets. I wonder if you couldn't cut out the bottom of one and attach a funnel although you might need to fashion a funnel to fit.
Just a thought.

 

[jlwquilter]

Do you mean this one?
It's just a 5 gal bucket, but I top off feed daily for 15 birds:
View attachment 1935342

Lid is cut and hinged with zipties, easy to fill:
View attachment 1935343

I meant the one you made out of a water cooler bottle... your brother bought it for you as a surprise. You don’t use that one anymore?

 

[aart]

I meant the one you made out of a water cooler bottle... your brother bought it for you as a surprise. You don’t use that one anymore?

Yeah, that's the one I showed the pics of.
Article is here, scroll waaaayyy down:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-waste-free-funnel-bucket-feeder.67218/