Make your own - No waste - 5 gallon (25# feed) bucket feeder for about $3

[Bear Foot Farm]

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[AletaG]

You will decrease food waste by quite a bit if you build one without realiziing it takes a good sized bird to be able to reach inside to the feed level
Of course your birds won't be too happy at the savings

I've never seen a big "waste" problem with the feeders I use, because if they spill feed, I don't refill the feeder until they clean it up. Hang them at the proper height and they don't toss it out anyway
I also keep mine inside so rain isn't a factor, and they can eat during stormy weather
I never said "don't do it"
I just think ALL things need to at least be considered before investing time and money into an idea

You are right, those are some considerations... But. For the OP's situation, ideal. And for your situation, sounds ideal. My chooks are happy, your chooks are happy... 'sall good. I could keep a goin', but maybe we'll let said OP have his happy thread back...

 

[jimmywalt]

I suppose if he wants to pay $30 bucks for two of those, then that's ok by me........

I on the other hand want to do this as inexpensive as I can while at the same time preventing wasted food. Mine holds 25#, costs about $3 bucks, and only needs to be filled about every 6 weeks. It's a no brainer for me.


To each his/her own.................

 

[Primo]

Jimmy, my opinion (also based on factual observations) is that this is an excellent low cost, low waste feeder for small flock applications. I have a different type of home made pvc type feeder with a similar size single opening for 8 birds. They feed from it off and on throughout the day. I have a galvanized feeder but did not like the waste (yes hung at the proper height) and did not like feeding the waste to mice or rats since I only feed out in the run. I also like that for an out of coop application, it would be more difficult for water intrusion into the feeder.
I will make one of these since it can basically be done for free. (or very inexpensively if you do not have the stuff lying around as I do). I think what a lot of people do not realize, is that there is a certain pride in building something yourself that works well and in some cases better than a commercial product.
Thank you for taking the time to post this

 

[gailmaison]

could I do this with a square kitty litter type bucket ? Only because I have lots of them but also they have a hinged lid...I can never get the lids off the round pails without breaking fingernails galore, and I would rather not have to buy another bucket to get the screw on lid....

 

[Freeholder]

I see a couple of pros about these bucket feeders for my setup, and at least one con. Pros are that right now I'm losing a LOT of feed to wild birds, who are able to freely feed from the hanging metal feeder (mine is hung at the proper height, and I feed layer pellets in it, so any that gets spilled is easy for the chickens to find and clean up). The birds are primarily magpies (which I think are also taking eggs), and Brewers Blackbirds. It looks like those wild birds would have a hard time stealing from one of the bucket feeders, if they even realized that there was feed in there.

Also, I could hang the bucket feeders in the outside run without losing feed to the weather (we also have horizontal winds with our rain most of the time).

The cons, well, I have twenty-five birds right now; going to cull that down to a dozen or so for the winter, but then I'm buying a bunch of new chicks next year and will probably go into next winter with fifteen or more birds. So, I'd need at least three holes, and maybe two buckets.

And I would also want the screw-on tops, as the others are a pain to remove, and to get back on tightly. Will have to see if they have those locally, or if I'd have to order them.

Kathleen

 

[AletaG]

The cons, well, I have twenty-five birds right now; going to cull that down to a dozen or so for the winter, but then I'm buying a bunch of new chicks next year and will probably go into next winter with fifteen or more birds. So, I'd need at least three holes, and maybe two buckets.
And I would also want the screw-on tops, as the others are a pain to remove, and to get back on tightly. Will have to see if they have those locally, or if I'd have to order them.

Kathleen

Noticed you are in OR? Are you anywhere near a Winco; the bulk section usually has Gamma lids? Also Home Depot sometimes sells Gamma lids too. Worst case, for sure Amazon has them. Or maybe a local prepper would share with you? Love those style! Or, you could try something like our water buckets... Jon found a lid, I call them "innies", because instead of popping on the outside edge of something, they pop inside (like an old film canister lid) and just drilled a matching hole in the bucket lid, and popped the 'innie' inside. It's water tight, and a whole lot easier to remove/put back than the entire lid. Let us know what works for you! We currently have 2 of the pipe style feeders, and 21 birds, don't seem to have issues. Of course, they are in 2 sep houses, and they range every other day. We also feed Fermented grains in a trough before bed time.

 

[TheGeekySheep]

could I do this with a square kitty litter type bucket ? Only because I have lots of them but also they have a hinged lid...I can never get the lids off the round pails without breaking fingernails galore, and I would rather not have to buy another bucket to get the screw on lid....

I don't see why it wouldn't work, as a matter of fact I think I read somewhere else someone used kitty litter containers to make these.

Also, I could hang the bucket feeders in the outside run without losing feed to the weather (we also have horizontal winds with our rain most of the time).

As I've seen mentioned elsewhere, I would not recommend hanging these style of feeders seeing as the birds have to put their heads and necks into the openings, they wouldn't like it once it started twisting in the air. Putting it up on a cinder block or pavers works just fine. This style doesn't need to be so high off the ground because the elbow keeps the food from being flung out.

 

[sepaditty1]

How old do you think chicks would have to be to use this?

 

[jetdog]

Mine were using it at 12 weeks and I will never go back to anything else.