Here is the latest addition Todd made to our chicken coop. The semi-automatic feeding system. We had a difficult time trying to come up with a name for it because it's not automatic, but it sure does make things easier for us. Our chickens are the sweetest chickens in this whole world, but they can get a bit crazy when their food dish is empty. No more walking in the coop and filling the tiny feeder that we had, and this one is much cleaner.
Here is where we fill it (the pipe comes out right by the nest boxes):
This video runs through the build process for this simple feeder design and also shows it in action. The feeder should hold enough food for 2-3 days and will cut down on the amount of time spent cleaning out and filling the smaller feeder. This is also much better than the feeders that sit on the ground as they get full of dirt quickly. We made the mistake of thinking their dish was full of food on several occasions, but it was full of sand instead.
The 4" drainage piping used for this project is much cheaper than the 4" schedule 40 PVC. The fittings for the drainage pipe are also much cheaper keeping the cost of this project under $20.
This post was shared at: Simple Saturdays Blog Hop, HomeAcre Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, The Backyard Farming Connection Hop, The Homestead Barn Hop
Here is where we fill it (the pipe comes out right by the nest boxes):
This video runs through the build process for this simple feeder design and also shows it in action. The feeder should hold enough food for 2-3 days and will cut down on the amount of time spent cleaning out and filling the smaller feeder. This is also much better than the feeders that sit on the ground as they get full of dirt quickly. We made the mistake of thinking their dish was full of food on several occasions, but it was full of sand instead.
The 4" drainage piping used for this project is much cheaper than the 4" schedule 40 PVC. The fittings for the drainage pipe are also much cheaper keeping the cost of this project under $20.
This post was shared at: Simple Saturdays Blog Hop, HomeAcre Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, The Backyard Farming Connection Hop, The Homestead Barn Hop
I am excited to try and build this feeder, can you tell me what lengths each of the sections of pipe were cut at? Thank you.
ReplyDeleteYou can build them to suite your coop but mine were about 24" on either side of the Tee coming down.
DeleteI've had all the materials for this and am on the verge of building it before the holidays. But question: I live in South San Francisco, where it tends to be fairly windy (plus we're expecting some much-needed rain this season) and I was a concerned about the wind blowing in some rain into the open top of the feeding trough...which would result in a mushy mess of food and render it unusable. Have you encountering anything along these lines (e.g., rain/snow getting into the top). Thoughts?
ReplyDeleteI've had all the materials for this and am on the verge of building it before the holidays. But question: I live in South San Francisco, where it tends to be fairly windy (plus we're expecting some much-needed rain this season) and I was a concerned about the wind blowing in some rain into the open top of the feeding trough...which would result in a mushy mess of food and render it unusable. Have you encountering anything along these lines (e.g., rain/snow getting into the top). Thoughts?
ReplyDelete