Made Feed Trough Today

jlwquilter

Songster
5 Years
Apr 30, 2019
838
1,471
243
West Palm Beach FL
I’ve wanted to try a fermented feed trough for a while now. I like the idea of the feed being off the ground so chickens don’t scratch it out so much and run debris doesn’t get scratched in so much - both big issues with my feed pan method. It also needed to be easy to clean and sun/rain protected. It needed to be easy to fill and hold enough feed for 17 full sized hens. Here’s what we came up with:

The trough itself is a half split bamboo pole. We did cut the sides down a bit more after the half split to get a slightly wider opening. We did this using a table saw. The trough is hung between 2 pine logs using big eye hooks and paracord loops for easy removal if/when needed. We use a lot of pine logs but any stake arrangement would work.
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The plywood top provides sun and rain protection as well as keeps the hens out of the food. It is hinged for easy lift access with a grab loop to facilitate adding food or power washing the trough out with the hose. The plywood top when open leans against a palm tree. The shown hinge isn’t actually attached yet - we ran out of time tonight to finish the project. There will be 2 hinges.
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The girls were hesitant for about 5 minutes to eat out of the trough. They had been getting a flat feed pan placed under a similar plywood roof for 2 weeks prior so the change really wasn’t that big. The next 2 pics show the hens eating simultaneously from both sides of the trough.
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I added moderate amounts of feed 3 times today and they cleaned it completely out. It rained today as well and the feed stayed dry- well, as dry as fermented feed gets. Tomorrow I want to add a few drain holes in each bamboo segment area
to aid in quick drainage after a spray power wash from the hose.

I am not entirely happy with where we placed it as it makes getting to the 2nd coop a bit of a detour walk. I could address that by making the trough shorter but don’t want to make the trough shorter than it is as I want 6-8 hens to be able to feed simultaneously. I think I’ll move it in a few months when a shade bush I’ve planted grows big enough. We’ll see!

DH and I are having a great time trying new ideas to streamline the chicken chores and add fun and value to both us and the flock.
 

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Thanks! We love the challenges. We love reusing, recycling and using natural materials when possible.

I want to be able to spend fun time with the chickens, not chore time. We travel quite a bit too so it’s critical to make things as fast and easy for the sitters as possible.
 

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