The Old Folks Home

[Wisher1000]

Quote:

I loved my bulk dry feeders, I only had to fill once a week for all coops but they did waste a lot.

I know you have carpentry skills, so you could build bulk feeders for dry feed. My latest tweak on mine is really working well to reduce wasted feed. I used a 4" S&D pipe and cut a narrow slot in the top. The curve of the pipe keeps them from billing it out and the slot (instead of holes) allows for those large single combs to remain undamaged. I have it gravity feeding from a deer feeder hopper with a short, vertical pipe, a 45o another short pipe, and another 45o before the slotted piece. I'll see if I can find a pic to post......



Would someone please flip this for me? For some reason, at work, I can flip an image in Paint and when I post it, it flips back. Ugh!

This pic was just as I finished it. I placed it in the coop on a 4'x4' scrap of wood and there is very little waste involved. I drilled two 2"(+/-) holes with a hole saw (used for door lock installations) and then cut out between them with a jigsaw. I didn't glue any of it so I can disassemble to clean it.

 

[dsqard]

I loved flying, like rideing in a caddy. The only times were though from Syracuse NY to O'hare and then to St Louis MO, bus from there to Ft. Leonardwood, had a lot of fun that summer Lol! Then from St louis to Newark NJ. Took a small jet from there to Binghamton NY, that ride wasn't as smooth. Our family has drove to Florida three yrs in a row, takes two days one way and I do ninety percent of the driving. I can't get the wife to fly. The drive back the first time almost killed me, I think I was hallucinating all the way through PA.

Nah not hallucinating, that is how PA looks in reality
I don't mind flying but the TSA theater stupidity usually gets my temper to boiling. I know they are just doing their jobs but some of the rules (you never seem to know which ones are still in force or which ones are new or no longer in force) are just stupid. I drive if it is less than 900 miles away. Saw my over 80 year old mother in law get patted down because she was in a wheel chair. She can walk, we just request a chair for her so she will be escorted from gate to gate. She could have easily walked through the metal detector but no, they pushed her around the side and then proceeded to pat her down in front of everyone paying very close attention to her waist band. Then they rubbed those fabric pads on the wheelchair (which was provided by the airport) to run it through the bomb sniffing machine. I thought she was going to cry from embarrassment. I am not her biggest fan but I felt bad for her. Flying right now really stinks.

 

[hennible]

Winter is mild here but Summer is brutal. I have more work in the summer keeping them alive. 

Yes heat is a bigger killer than cold isn't it?
We get some crazy hot days from time to time up to 45°C.... Rare but it does happen. Last summer when the temperatures hit somewhere in the mid 30s I could tell my ducks where having a very hard time with it... It's awful when it's hot in the shade. My Chickens on the other hand were smart enough to seek out the cooler temperatures in the forest. But I have had a couple oddball hens that wouldn't leave the coop, and I had to keep spraying the roof down with cold water to keep the temperatures tolerable for them...

 

[hennible]

 I know you have carpentry skills, so you could build bulk feeders for dry feed.  My latest tweak on mine is really working well to reduce wasted feed.  I used a 4" S&D pipe and cut a narrow slot in the top.  The curve of the pipe keeps them from billing it out and the slot (instead of holes) allows for those large single combs to remain undamaged.  I have it gravity feeding from a deer feeder hopper with a short, vertical pipe, a 45o another short pipe, and another 45o before the slotted piece.  I'll see if I can find a pic to post......

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...te-5-gallon-25-feed-bucket-feeder-for-about-3
I have a version of this feeder made out of a Rubbermaid tote I actually used two Rubbermaid's each one I fill with 50 pounds of pellets.

 

[Wisher1000]

I saw that..... how many chickens will it feed? I was concerned that they would all want to eat at the same time and only the alphas would be able to get in there.

 

[hennible]

That's why I went with the Rubbermaid one with multiple PVC ports, mine only has two (one each side) I think I'll add two more to each just to make sure more chickens can feed at once... Even my lowest girls get a chance at those feeders, but it's more for the ducks right now because the chickens just prefer the fermented feed so much...
Alaskan as a pretty snazzy one made out of a garbage can with multiple ports on it for her/his flock... Anyway I don't know exactly how many chickens feed out of mine...4 max out of the two feeders at one time...

 

[tntchix]

Routine sure does help, my weather sure doesn't... It's cold enough I can't empty the poop trays under the roosts... Just freezes solid. On the plus side as long as it frozen solid it's not producing any ammonia.

 

[tntchix]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...te-5-gallon-25-feed-bucket-feeder-for-about-3
I have a version of this feeder made out of a Rubbermaid tote I actually used two Rubbermaid's each one I fill with 50 pounds of pellets.

what size totes do you use??? I need to get 2. Does it hold the whole 50lb bag? Is there space left over at the top? I need to get the smallest one possible to conserve space so I can get rid of my bucket feeders which are up against a wall. So many questions.

 

[ronott1]

what size totes do you use??? I need to get 2. Does it hold the whole 50lb bag? Is there space left over at the top? I need to get the smallest one possible to conserve space so I can get rid of my bucket feeders which are up against a wall. So many questions.

Plastic does not have a long life in my climate. This morning I grabbed the side of the 5 gallon mouse trap bucket that has been in the yard since summer to dump out the water and the plastic sides started snapping off. plastic water fountains and feeders to the same thing.

Meal lasts much longer.

 

[tntchix]

Plastic does not have a long life in my climate. This morning I grabbed the side of the 5 gallon mouse trap bucket that has been in the yard since summer to dump out the water and the plastic sides started snapping off. plastic water fountains and feeders to the same thing.

Meal lasts much longer.

Bummer @ronott1 I also have a metal trash can I could use. hmmm *Ideas* but @hennible I still need answers, girl. LOL