PVC Feeder Concern

[enggass]

About to make my first PVC feeder. I have looked all over this site at other peoples setups. Most use either a 90deg or (2)45deg pieces at the bottom of the fill tube.
My concern is that the food will not spread the length of the feed area at the bottom by gravity alone. How is this achieved?
Right now my birds are still eating mash. Do crumbles make a difference? I can switch next time I get food. They are still on grower at this point.
Input? Thanks!

 

[mgw]

I built A PVC feeder 2 WKs ago. I used 4" sewer pipe & a 90 angle. Went with the L shaped style the bottom part of the L is only a foot long wiyh 3 1.5" holes in it. It is working great they have no problems getting the feed out of it & and it has an even amount of feed all the way across. I am only feeding 5 hens In one of them & 4 out of the other one.If i was going to make it any bigger I would use an upright on both ens ( U shaped ) we are feeding pellet grower right now it flows well. The hens seem to disperce the feed across the feeder on thier own I only did it the First time Ifilled it. The upright part is around 4 ft tall. hope this helps you . P.S i see the smallest amount of wasted feed since building them.

 

[mgw]

OPPS thats 3 ; 2.5" holes

 

[enggass]

Thanks. I have 6 hens so I only plan on building one. I bet the larger the food size, the better it flows. ie. Crumbles better than mash > pellets better than crumbles etc. I wonder if two 45deg's or a 90deg sweep would give it a bit more umph! How tall did you make your feed pipe? I bet that has an influence as well - I would screw around, but I'd like to get it right the first time. The stuff is not super expensive, but it ain't cheap either...
Thanks,
Steve

 

[mgw]

The the feed tube is like 4 ft tall holds about 1/3 bag of feed. I used just a regular 4" 90. some use a 45 plus a 22.5 it seems to work good also. I dont have any problems with feed hanging up or not filling the feeder all the way across. but the feed wasting has come to an end. I am very happy with how it is working and would recomend these to anybody!