Looking for INEXPENSIVE ideas to protect large amounts of food

[Krugerrand]

@wyoDreamer had a thread on these back in June with a November update. A number of people chimed in on their use of refrigerators and freezers.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/old-fridge-for-feed-storage-good-or-bad-idea.1461874/

 

[saysfaa]

I use those for water. My thoughts are that I would have to cut thru the metal cage around it, that rodents would chew the plastic, and that the feed won't dispense thru anyways. ...

They are cubes, right? Like this?

I think they would work without cutting the cage. Take the bin out of the cage, add a guillotine door to one side, turn the bin sideways so the guillotine door side faces out the open side of the cage and put it back in.

Tilt the whole thing so the guillotine door is on one of the top sides. Ideally, on something like this drywall tilt cart so you can adjust how far it tilts.... concept, the details are wrong.

Add hydraulics or pulleys or counter weights.

Add cones on the legs for rodent resistance.

Four legged might make the cones on the leggs more effective and the weight won't matter for your application.

If the size works - 800 pounds is about 16 bushel? Guessing based on shelled corn... that is a bit less than 150 gallons. You don't really want them clear full but they might still be too big. Still, it depends on the price and whether you have space to spare. You could put the door off center and make the legs on one side higher... which would be less stable... more bracing would be needed.

I prefer 55 gallon steel drums.

 

[STACEYH]

Why not build a container the size to hold what you buy? Build it out of wood and line it with metal so critters can not chew threw it. Make sure you add a pad lock. You could even add wheels so you can move it.

 

[MysteryChicken]

All I use is a large plastic garbage bin, & fill it with 4, 40lbs bags of Nutrena Naturewise 20% All flock pellets.

My extra bags, like meat bird, & flock Raiser, I just roll down the tops if open, & stick a heavy brick ontop to seal it.

Only had 1 incident of a mouse getting into my flock Raiser, & a bag of scratch.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Why not build a container the size to hold what you buy? Build it out of wood and line it with metal so critters can not chew threw it. Make sure you add a pad lock. You could even add wheels so you can move it.

At the current price of lumber, its a several hundred dollar investment. That is Plan B however. Build it right into the wall of my barn (to save lumber costs), raised off the floor, so I don't have to bend down (and can store the generator, the pressure washer, and a few 5 gallon paint containers below it. Thinking 2' deep, 8' wide, 3' tall, and about 32" off the ground.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

All I use is a large plastic garbage bin, & fill it with 4, 40lbs bags of Nutrena Naturewise 20% All flock pellets.

My extra bags, like meat bird, & flock Raiser, I just roll down the tops if open, & stick a heavy brick ontop to seal it.

Only had 1 incident of a mouse getting into my flock Raiser, & a bag of scratch.

my rodents are chewing holes in the bottom of the bags to get in, and my "feral" barn cat is... ...still in bed, next to my wife.

 

[MysteryChicken]

my rodents are chewing holes in the bottom of the bags to get in, and my "feral" barn cat is... ...still in bed, next to my wife.

I've been doing it this way for years, & only had one incident with mice.
Yeah, that happened to a couple bags. We have barn cats from every farm around us. Only one tuxedo seems to be doing it's job though.