I made a few chicken feeders so that I could be gone for a couple of days and have the chickens kept in good shape.
Here is a close up on the watering bucket;
Here is a close up on the food;
Here is a pair of them ready for action!
Here is a store bought watering system, and one I made in action.
Here is a feeder in action.
Here are the parts, apart from the jugs needed to make it work.
Here are a pair of jugs ready to go, one with water and the other with food.
Here are all the tools I used;
Here is the jig. Very important tool. It lets you space the holes at the right height, make and even spaced pair, and even make sure they are spaced evenly around the bucket.
A note on spacing around the bucket. The more slits, the less structure the bucket has. It needs some curved walls to remain strong. The examples here may have too many slits. The ones in the chicken pictures, have three sets of two slits. This allows for decent structure. A bad chicken can block the water for the rest of the chickens, so multiple slits are needed however. I put two food buckets and two water buckets in with a coop of chickens to make sure they are ok.
Here is the setup to drill the slit holes. The drill can grab and run, so I run the drill backwards to scrape a hole instead of cutting. It still works pretty quickly.
Here is an example of where the drill can run off track quickly.
Be sure when you drill, that you are safe, the area is clear, the bucket is secure in place, and that in the worst scenario, you cannot be hurt.
After drilling holes, this is how I connect them.
Here is what is going on inside the food bucket,
Here are the food and water stands on the jugs, ready to be put in the buckets.
The stands are made from nice big pvc pipes.
Here are the food and water buckets on the jugs, ready for inversion.
The whole point here is to be able to have a lot of food and water available when I am gone for the weekend. This allows the chickens who have to stay cooped up, to stay healthy and happy.
Bob
[...] Posted in October 7th, 2008 by BobStrawn in Chickens, Husbandry, Livestock At one time I posted an article about Chicken Feeders. These feeders have worked out fairly well, but the measurements were not ideal. Feed was [...]
This is a good idea guys! I found it at google image search and going to suggest my brother to use this method
.
Cheapes and simplest method. NICE!
Glad to be of service! Be sure to check the update, http://toolmakingart.com/2008/10/07/chicken-feeders-more-details/ I made a few simple improvements that really make a difference.
Bob
Great job! keep em coming! this will be a great help to my feeding and watering problems of our chickens
Bob I was googling for feeders I could do at home, I have tried a few storebought and was VERY unhappy besides I am a complete do it yourselfer if I can, this setup is FANTASTIC thank you for sharing it! I know the new addition that will be going into my coop
Cool stuff! Your feeder seems quell one of my concerns of the chickens wasting food with there beak or scratching, problem solved. I wonder if you can make the slots narrower to make the waste problem even smaller?
I constructed the water system described here with only two holes and it seems to keep the water cleaner between refills. The design itself is an excellent system, thanks for the design.
Higher Bottom of the hole is the best way to reduce waste. Birds have been known to block others just out of spite, so narrow holes can lead to issues. I have lower holes for young chickens and prefer higher ones for the older ones.
Bob
A cover, and higher bottoms on the holes seems to do the best for keeping the water cleaner.
Bob
Hi Bob,
Thanks very much for these ideas and pictures, great!
I am part of a small group of people who have come together online and on the ground to assist a teenage boy living in the slums of Kampala, Uganda, to set up a very small scale chickens business. We are collating links and information that we hope will be of help not just to him but to others who keep chickens on a small scale. Adding a link to this page in our ‘Useful Links’ document in our Facebook group, ‘Arnold’s Chickens Enterprise’, you are welcome to view and join if you wish!
Ceris
How do you keep the water from freezing in the Winter time? Will pipe heat tape work? Is it a hazard? OR would it be better to use a light bulb in a metal pan under the bucket? Which would be less costly?
way to go bob, and thank you for sharing this idea and solving my problem for me.