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

[MadAngler]

Ok, I jumped on this bandwagon. I already made the waterer with horizontal nipples. Now I made the feeder too...
I love the ease and simplicity. It is great to have no poop in the water or food. It is also great to know that they have food and water that can last up to a week...

 

[Pinkaboo]

Ok, I jumped on this bandwagon. I already made the waterer with horizontal nipples. Now I made the feeder too... I love the ease and simplicity. It is great to have no poop in the water or food. It is also great to know that they have food and water that can last up to a week...

Call the fire brigade!

 

[jimmywalt]

IT'S A VERY SAD DAY TODAY..............

Yesterday when we got home we found a notice on the door from the township letting us know that we couldn't have our chickens any longer. We weren't in compliance with the zoning for farm animals since we live in a subdivision and don't have enough land to be within the ordinance. We hade a very nice coop that I built with an enclosed run were they couldn't get out and they were very quiet too.

Last year in March we got our first 3 chicks for my son who was 3 years old at the time. Within a few weeks we got 2 more. Our 5 chickens gave us eggs almost every day once they started. This spring we got 3 more and they are growing up great. Probably would lay eggs near the end of July, but we won't get to see that now.

Our 4 year old son is very sad to see his pets (who each have a name) go. He fed them scratch each day as dad collected the eggs. It's hard explaining to a 4 year old that he won't see his "chicken nuggets" anymore.

What a shame........ and it's all because of a neighbor 3 houses down decided to call the township on us because I didn't appreciate a cat being allowed to run around my yard and use the bathroom, come in my garage, and kill the baby birds living in our trees.

Terrible that people can be such jerks and do things that make a small innocent child loose his pets.

It was great finding this website and all the things I learned on it and the things I got to share. Made friends with some of you and had a great time telling our chicken stories..... But I guess that's all done now. We have to have them cleared out in the next few days.

Wish for my little boy there was some way to keep them, but I'm sure we can't.

Thanks again everyone! Happy chicken keeping to you!

 

[chickensfinally]

IT'S A VERY SAD DAY TODAY..............

Yesterday when we got home we found a notice on the door from the township letting us know that we couldn't have our chickens any longer. We weren't in compliance with the zoning for farm animals since we live in a subdivision and don't have enough land to be within the ordinance. We hade a very nice coop that I built with an enclosed run were they couldn't get out and they were very quiet too.

Last year in March we got our first 3 chicks for my son who was 3 years old at the time. Within a few weeks we got 2 more. Our 5 chickens gave us eggs almost every day once they started. This spring we got 3 more and they are growing up great. Probably would lay eggs near the end of July, but we won't get to see that now.

Our 4 year old son is very sad to see his pets (who each have a name) go. He fed them scratch each day as dad collected the eggs. It's hard explaining to a 4 year old that he won't see his "chicken nuggets" anymore.

What a shame........ and it's all because of a neighbor 3 houses down decided to call the township on us because I didn't appreciate a cat being allowed to run around my yard and use the bathroom, come in my garage, and kill the baby birds living in our trees.

Terrible that people can be such jerks and do things that make a small innocent child loose his pets.

It was great finding this website and all the things I learned on it and the things I got to share. Made friends with some of you and had a great time telling our chicken stories..... But I guess that's all done now. We have to have them cleared out in the next few days.

Wish for my little boy there was some way to keep them, but I'm sure we can't.

Thanks again everyone! Happy chicken keeping to you!

It may not help you to save this batch of pets, but it is possible to change the ordinances so you might be able to get them again later. Maybe they could go live out in the country somewhere where you could visit them and perhaps get them back when you get the ordinance changed! I'm sure there is a law or ordinance about cats roaming about. She's lucky you didn't call animal control on it! Or, maybe you did and that's how this started, doh! I'm so, so sorry this happened to your family.

 

[KYTinpusher]

IT'S A VERY SAD DAY TODAY..............

I'm so sorry that you can't keep your pets, but I agree with the previous poster about changing the ordinance. There are lots of people on BYC who have had great success doing just that and threads to help you with it in your town. You should check it out.

 

[pecker head]

First off thanks to JetDog who I first saw posted about this incredible feeder. I've been using it for the past couple months and I will NEVER EVER go back to any other kind of feeder! I started out with the basic red/white plastic feeder that all the feed stores sell............ the chickens wasted more food than they ate so I knew I had to figure out something else. I then made a PVC tube feeder, but it only held a few pounds of food and seemed to need to be refilled all the time..... and I only have 5 chickens So then I read about the 5 gallon bucket feeder from Jetdog.................... And I've never turned back! This thing is SOOO easy to make and it will hold 25 lbs of pellet food!!! First thing you need is a 5 gallon bucket. You can purchase one at one of the home improvement stores, or if you want to save a few bucks like me you can get a used pickle bucket from your local fast food restaurant for free, or even try your local bakery for a 5 gallon frosting bucket. Next you need 3" pvc elbow (about $3 at Lowes) and a 3-1/2" hole saw (you can get the hole saw cheap at Harbor Freight). [COLOR=333333]Cut the end of the elbow off at the red line (see pic below) and then figure out where the hole in the bucket should be so that when you stick the CUT END into the bucket it's about 3/4" off the bottom. Silicone or pvc cement around inside and out, put the top on the bucket and you're set![/COLOR] I also added an "extension" to the end of the elbow that the chickens stick their heads in to get the food to make the hole a bit smaller and also so that they have to go farther in. This TOTALLY eliminated ALL spilled pellets! The "extension" adds about 1" deeper they need to go. See pictures below. I put the bucket on a few patio bricks to bring it up to about chest height on my chickens. My bucket only has 1 elbow but you could probably add up to 3 if you wanted to feed around the entire bucket. You can see the extension (3" PVC pipe that I added to the elbow in the picture below) Here is a picture of the bucket in my coop via my coop web cam. Picture from inside the bucket Here is the finished product sitting next to my 5 gallon heated water for the winter. There's a link in my signature below for instructions on the waterer. Another BYC friend of mine (LoneOak) suggested using a "Street Elbow" - I think his idea might work better. - [COLOR=333333]I used a street elbow in mine which has two different kinds of ends. I cut off the hub end and inserted the spigot end into the bucket. Then I cleaned up the hub end and put it over the spigot end (with the elbow still attached) and pushed it tight against the bucket. The hub fits securely over the spigot holding it all together without any fasteners or glue.[/COLOR] Once you make and use this type of feeder you will NEVER use anything else again!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome

 

[Susanv47]

I wish you could move to the country and still enjoy your chickens. So sorry.

 

[vehve]

Thank you for this great idea. I made a slight modification, here's what I cooked up. Took about 3 minutes for the chickens to get used to it. It's a compost bucket and a storm vent. There was a flap inside the vent which I removed, then I sawed a 100mm hole in the bucket and the vent fit into it snugly, no glue or screws needed.

 

[KYTinpusher]

Thank you for this great idea. I made a slight modification, here's what I cooked up. Took about 3 minutes for the chickens to get used to it. It's a compost bucket and a storm vent. There was a flap inside the vent which I removed, then I sawed a 100mm hole in the bucket and the vent fit into it snugly, no glue or screws needed.

I like this idea, too! Seems like it would work better for smaller chicks and with smaller containers to fit in smaller spaces. I will have to look for those vents. Are they for a clothes dryer vent?

 

[vehve]

I like this idea, too! Seems like it would work better for smaller chicks and with smaller containers to fit in smaller spaces. I will have to look for those vents. Are they for a clothes dryer vent?

I bought them at Biltema (Sweden based cheap hardware store) as "Storm proof air duct vents". It seems to be an exhaust vent with a small flap that closes in windy weather which i removed. The air vent department of your local hardware store is probably your best bet for something similar. The bucket is a bio waste bucket.