Build a Better Chicken Feeder

Our chickens are free-range on pasture, but we still supplement them with feed. G has been feeding them on the ground in little containers, but they waste so much by scratching I wanted a better solution. 

A quick Google search later turned up this PVC pipe feeder. Inexpensive, easy to find supplies, quick to make and tested/adjusted by a guy with a flock of chickens. Sounds good to me! 

 

So Jaron and I bought supplies at Menards. 

They were out of end caps, which go on the tops of the feeders to keep rodents and rain out. I figured I could buy some later, or come up with an alternative solution. 

Step one was to glue a plug in the bottom of a Y piece. This keeps the feed close to the chickens so it doesn't sit down in the bottom of the feeder not getting eaten. (You'll see in a picture below). 

Then using a saw, I cut off a three inch section to go on the end of the Y to extend it and prevent the birds from wasting feed. The other side of the Y gets a long piece to hold the feed.

 Like so: 

I put two feeders in the shed, attached to the wall with twine and staples. That staple gun G got for Christmas is really coming in handy. 😉

I set it on a block to make it a better height for the birds to reach. 

Here's the other inside feeder.

This was my solution to keep rain out of the outside feeder (facing south/as far into the fence as possible). 

I made one double Y feeder and chose to have it outside since that was where G fed them before. 

I wondered how long it would take the birds to figure out how to eat out of these feeders since it's different than they've eaten from before. In anticipation of that, I mixed some flock armor powder (which has a very strong scent) with their regular feed so it would draw them in. 

My genius plan is working! 

It didn't take long for them to figure it out. 

We have been burning through so much chicken feed, it's ridiculous. G was doubtful the birds were wasting that much. We have so many, he thought it was normal for the amount of birds we have. I counted all the chickens and ducks... We have 54 with more to come- two mamas are sitting on nests. So yes, we do have a lot. 

However, I was NOT doubtful that they were wasting feed. Even with so many, we shouldn't be going through bags so fast. 

So, I did an experiment. 

Fill all three feeders to the tops and note the time. Come back out the next day at the same time and see how full the feeders are.  If they were eating as much as G said (and not wasting any the way he fed them), the feeders should be empty (based on how much he fed them each day vs how much fits in the new feeders). 

The next day I checked them at the appointed time. The outside feeder was about half full. One inside feeder was the same level and the other was down maybe four inches. 

So. Now we know. 

One argument he could make is that not all the birds knew about the feeder so they weren't all eating from it. I'll keep checking and see if the rate changes, but I don't think it'll ever catch up to the prefeeder rate. 😜