pvc feeder question

[gale65]

I made a pvc feeder similar to this one (not my picture-it's from another thread)

The feed doesn't go into the horizontal part on its own very easily. Do they have to peck the feed to get more to come out? Or do I need to mess with it every time the bottom part gets low? It is 3" pvc and I have 2" holes cut in it. Right now they can fit their heads in but I'm afraid that when they get full grown they won't be able to and we'll have to cut out a bigger area.

 

[mljohnson05]

if they peck long enough it will come own a little....but you see in the pic how there is a board on top and on bottom to mount it??? Well I made the top board a little thicker so it will slant a bit...an I have no trouble having te feed drop own now

Hope this helps,

--Laura--

 

[chicken_noob]

Clean and simple. I like it.

 

[ruffedgrouse]

I made a pvc feeder out of 4" pipe and just cut a slot in it. They eat out of it fine and being such a large pipe it doesn't need filled up too often.

 

[1AcreRooster]

Ive never tried one for my birds, but been feeding the deer with these for years

 

[Buff-Island-Australorp]

Quote:
Maybe use a 45° ell bw instead of a 90°, so it's still angled down a bit.
Or, the more I think about PVC feeders, instead of making just one feeder to supply foof to all your birds, make several and just turn the ell bw piece up so they are sticking their head into the ell bw to eat and not an extension piece. Some will have to take turns eating, but they would function better. Someone has pictures on here of theirs where they did that.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Maybe use a 45° ell bw instead of a 90°, so it's still angled down a bit.
Or, the more I think about PVC feeders, instead of making just one feeder to supply foof to all your birds, make several and just turn the ell bw piece up so they are sticking their head into the ell bw to eat and not an extension piece. Some will have to take turns eating, but they would function better. Someone has pictures on here of theirs where they did that.

Or two 45's with a short piece of pipe in between them.

Chris

 

[gale65]

I can't put a 45 in now. For one thing the 90 is glued and also there isn't enough room. It would be laying on the floor or the floor would probably be in the way and we can't make the top part any shorter because of the area it's in and the way it's secured. I'll just leave it as is and maybe cut between the holes so they have more room to put their heads in. This supposedly simple pvc feeder has turned out to be a huge headache.

 

[Kitty Cat]

That's a super cool idea! I would think if they peck at it enough it would come down. But you could slant it a little so that gravity will give you a little hand. Good Luck!

 

[Life is Good!]

Our PVC feeder has a 90 degree street elbow (so it's an odd size on one end - bit of a pain to gather the required parts, but I had fun putting it all together in the plumbing section of Menards one afternoon!), so the feed doesn't get caught in the elbow.

Yes, I do stick my hand up the elbow and 'pull' some feed down periodically (every other day?). I don't mind, as my chicks are molting right now - their downy feathers are EVERYWHERE - including in the feed, so I quick remove the feathers from the feed AND pull it down for them too.

I think of it as like changing their water daily. I eat three times a day, why shouldn't I make sure my hens do to?