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

[butch vb]

instead of using 3 inch elbows use 2 inch you can also trim the length to fit the size of bird on the out side if still to big you can put a vertical half inch pipe through yhe elbow I use this in my 4 inch pvc feeder in my coop tokeep them from throwing feed out try fermenting their feed and feed with trough feeder better for birds and less waste

 

[WilhelminaD]

I just wanted to pop in and say I *love* this feeder! I built one for my flock a few weeks ago, but the first introduction didn't go so well. They were only about 5.5 weeks old and it was just too big for them to reach in. They're now about 7.5 weeks and when I put it in they descended on it and have been doing great with it ever since!

I did have a little trouble making it - the hole driller thingy (yes, you can tell how capable I am with construction tools by my grasp of the technical lingo would make the whole bucket turn until I managed to wedge the bucket so it didn't spin. It also wasn't quite a perfect circle and didn't exactly fit the elbow joint. I just used a knife to shave it to the shape I needed and then caulked around the joint to seal up any gaps.

All in all, I'm very pleased with it. I'm going to replace the lid with one of those spinning lids that seals it airtight and I'll need to make another one for when the flock moves out to the coop so they have lots of access points to food. Thank you so much for this tutorial!

 

[ROADJOKER22]

I like this feeder idea. But I am curious on how it is with rain getting into it and clogging? I Was going to put one in the coop and one out in the run but wasn't sure how well it would do in the run during thunderstorms and rain here in ohio?

 

[jerryse]

I like this feeder idea. But I am curious on how it is with rain getting into it and clogging? I Was going to put one in the coop and one out in the run but wasn't sure how well it would do in the run during thunderstorms and rain here in ohio?

Mine work fine in the rain . It helps if you seal with silicone around the cut .

 

[ROADJOKER22]

Sounds great. Going to build a couple tonight. Thank you

 

[kvtolbert]

Mine is fine outside too. It's under a tarp but I'm sure it gets some blown rain. No issues yet, the food sits safely back inside the bucket

 

[Pinkaboo]

Bucket feeder

I don't really understand how the chickens can get to the food
It looks on the pic like the pipe inside the bucket is flush to the bucket floor
I can only imagine it isn't it is raised off the bucket floor so the food falls under it?
Does it not fall back into the bucket!

 

[Concrete101]

I made mine 3/4" above the bottom but for crumbles I would raise it more.

 

[WilhelminaD]

It took me a bit to wrap my head around the concept, too. The end of the pipe is about 3/4" above the bottom of the bucket. As food is eaten more falls down to the bottom to refill it.

 

[Pinkaboo]

It took me a bit to wrap my head around the concept, too.  The end of the pipe is about 3/4" above the bottom of the bucket.  As food is eaten more falls down to the bottom to refill it.  

Ah thank you
I think I might have a go, love the idea that its water proof