Need help with my PVC feeder - Chickens throwing food on ground.

[Mark1]

Nice looking coop jimmywalts.

Motts, I have a 4x6 raised coop that I put a 28'' tall pvc feeder in a corner. I attached it to the coop wall with a small carabiner key chain I bought from Home Depot for like 99 cents. It has a carabiner on 1 end and a key ring on the other connected by about a 4'' strap. I cut the strap in the half, screwed the half strap with the key ring about a half inch from the top of the pvc pipe, and attached the other half with the carabiner to the coop wall at the same height. put the feeder up against the wall, connect the carabiner to the key ring and it will keep the feeder in place while allowing you easy removal for cleaning/filling.

 

[mikeharold]

Nice pictures. What do you do to keep the rain/snow out?

Thank you.

I live in Cali so it never rains(almost true the last couple of years), and certainly no snow! Haven't gone through a winter with it yet, just got the chickens this past spring. I do have it turned so the opening is actually under the coop brcause when it gets really hot I run misters in the aftenoon and didn't want to get the food wet. Seems to work for that. Will figure out something for winter when the time comes.

 

[PetRock]

Mikeharold - thanks for the pics

Mark1 - cool idea with the drain cap.

Has anybody ever made a small one of these that would go inside a small coop? I have a coop which is raised off the ground and would prefer to have the feed indoors. Could I make a small one that may be able to be removed to be refilled? I don't want something inside that takes up a lot of space. Need ideas for mounting something like this that could be removed and replaced often. For some reason, I don't want to make a hole in my new coop. What if I decide not to feed indoors?

Maybe I should give up on the indoor feeding idea?

We have 2 short PVC feeders inside our raised coop and 2 tall ones in the run. My DH attached them to the wall with plumpers tape. We have a cap on the top and made sure we left enough room above them so they can be filled in place. We have been using them for over 2 years and haven't needed to clean them out. I do clean out the feed dust every 3 or 4 months.

 

[AmyPaperlady]

The grate drain with a cutout for the chickens head works well. Just a note, having the opening vertical , instead of horizontal like the photo works much better.

Because the drain looks like teeth this way?

 

[appps]

Add one more bend piece. This fixes the problem

Little hard to see but there is an extra I think 25deg bend on top. I also have one identical to yours and added that last bend and it fixed the mess with it too.
Btw mess in photo was from me not chooks lol

I've not had to restrict the opening in any other way. That little bit extra height between food and opening was all that was needed and I can still use a cap over the end at night to keep mice out.

 

[jetdog]

Here's the problem with those feeders the rain water can get in try making one of these with a 5gal bucket water can't get in and no wasted food they can't fling it around.

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[jetdog]

 

[jimmywalt]

That looks very nice. I would LOVE to see some close-up pictures and get the specs on the sizes of pipe you used. Also pictures from the inside without food in it. Any chance you could do that? Thank you.

 

[jetdog]

Well its full of food holds about a month's worth of food. I used 3inch 90degree elbows I put two but you can use 4 depending on the size of your flock.I cut the elbow so it's about 3/4 of an inch off the bottom of the bucket as they eat more food trickles in.No wasted food because they can't fling it around. Just put a little food on the edges mine were eating in less than 5 minutes.

 

[jimmywalt]

Well its full of food holds about a month's worth of food. I used 3inch 90degree elbows I put two but you can use 4 depending on the size of your flock.I cut the elbow so it's about 3/4 of an inch off the bottom of the bucket as they eat more food trickles in.No wasted food because they can't fling it around. Just put a little food on the edges mine were eating in less than 5 minutes.

Thank you for that info. How did you cut the holes and what keeps the pipe from moving around (or falling out)?