Chicken Feeder

In addition to setting up the giveaway for the blog, I had another project on Monday: build a hanging chicken feeder.  We’ve been using a standard chicken feeder in the chicken tractor, but as the birds get bigger, there is less and less room for a given number of birds to eat at one time.  The reason this is a problem is because the bigger, stronger chickens (typically the roosters) will hog the feed, making it hard for the smaller chickens to get bigger.  It would be nice if their weights didn’t vary wildly at butchering time, so we wanted to set up a trough-style feeder for our birds.  After witnessing the poo ring around the other feeder, I knew it was time to switch things up.

Here is a perfect example of how I often find the Cornish Cross…sitting in a ring around the feeder and waterer. We want them to do more grazing and also be forced to get up when they eat…it should help them from having health problems as they get bigger.

This is a ring of poo…the chickens just lay around the feeder, eat, sleep and poo in the same spot. This one has been sitting for a couple of days and has begun to show signs of regrowth, but the grass may be burnt a little at first.

This is another poo ring that is a day fresher than the other. I’m telling you, these birds can be extremely lazy!

Preparation

This feeder was exceptionally easy to make and was completely free, thanks to the fact that we always have parts lying around!  I think I spent about 45 minutes on the thing, including installing it, and it only took that long because the kids were helping.  Had I done it all on my own, I probably could have been done in half that time.  I used some old, small animal feeders that a neighbor gave me for the “trough” part.  These were meant to be mounted on a wall or the side of a cage, and they had old rusted hooks or bolts in them that needed to come off for my purposes.  The reason I did not just hang them on the sides of the chicken tractor is that none of the old parts fit.

The free bins we were given by a neighbor. There were seven, but I only used six to keep the feeder balanced.

The bins were a little dirty from sitting unused for so long, and there are a few cracks on some, but nothing that will affect their functionality.

I didn’t even bother to cut the board as it was the perfect length to give some spacing between dishes which would allow even more chickens to eat at a time.

First I took the angle grinder and cut off the rusted parts.  (An angle grinder is a very useful tool for homesteaders/farmers/country folk.  It may not be the most used tool we own, but it’s been very nice to have for the times we do need one.)  I think I am going to keep the old hooks to reuse for something, but I am not sure for what.  This was probably the most time-consuming part of the project, and it only took a couple of minutes.

The angle grinder. I haven’t used this tool often, but we’ve definitely appreciated having it in our collection. Scott has done some bigger projects with this. I’ve mainly used it for grinding off screws, and this time, the old hardware from the bins.

The old hooks from the feeders. I know I’m weird, but I love old rusty things…now I just have to find the right project for these 🙂

Assembly

Then I laid out half of the bins on one side of the board and screwed them in place.  I don’t have much for washers laying around, so I didn’t bother to put any on to ensure that the bins won’t fall off, but I think it will be fine without them.  If it is a problem, then I’ll pick up a few washers.   Then I turned it around and screwed the next three bins on the back side.  I did this to not only help space out the chickens while eating, but also to keep the feeder balanced so that the feed does not pour out.

I used the original holes in the feeders to screw and mount them onto the new board.

E was my faithful helper during this project, handing me screws as I needed them. He very much enjoyed helping out 🙂

Then it was time to drill a couple of holes, one in either end of the feeder board, and two spaced about the same distance apart in the center of the roof of the chicken tractor.  Each hole was given an eye screw.  The holes were drilled so that the screws would fit tightly in place.  I started threading them by hand, and then took a screw driver and stuck it through the eye and turned until they were all the way in and tight.

Drilling pilot holes into the board for the eye screws.

I hand threaded the screws up to this point…

And using the shaft of an old screw driver, I tightened the eye screw. It is important that the screws are snug so that they won’t strip out and the feeder fall down.

The fully tightened eye screw.

Installing

After I was finished with the assembly, I washed all of those bins out, and we headed over to the chicken tractor for installation.

The chicken feeder after washing all of the bins out.

Am I the only one who carries power and hand tools around in their stroller and/or purse?

Miss Lady walked E and the tools over to the chicken tractor while Momma carried the feeder.

Lastly, I took a length of wire that was double the distance I needed to get the feeder hanging low enough so that the chickens could eat without issue, and high enough that it won’t drag on the ground when we move the tractor.  I could have done a single thickness of wire, but I wanted to make sure it wouldn’t snap since chickens can get awfully greedy when it comes to their food and they are not above sitting on top of their food…  I slipped half of the wire through the eye of the screw and pulled the two ends together, threading both through the eyes on the feeder, and then bringing it up to wrap back around itself.

The pilot hole drilled in the peak of the chicken tractor roof.

The wires are strung through the eye screws and are waiting to be threaded through the eyes of the feeder below.

The feeder is strung up. If you look really closely, you can see that I just twisted the wire back on itself to tie the feeder up. Miss Lady and Peanut are petting chickens and Doodles is filling the feeder bins for me.

Once it was hanging, the kids helped to put feed in all of the bins, and we waited to make sure that the chickens could reach and that they understood how their feeders were going to work.  It took a few minutes, but we could see that they were catching on.  We’ll continue to keep an eye on it to make sure that it’s working, but so far, so good!

The chicken feeder is just barely hanging off of the ground, but it’s enough that the chickens still have to stand up to get their feed.

The chickens are slowly figuring out how to use their new “trough.”

I know that people will make these out of capped lengths of PVC pipe with a portion of the side of the pipe removed, but we were just working with what we had on hand…  The objective was to make something that filled our requirements, without spending any money.  Objective achieved.

Another “building” project from recent days: Scott made this fence puller for when we are finally ready to put the fencing onto the fence posts for the garden…which will have to be soon, because I planted certain vining plants to be able to grow up that fencing!

I think next on the list of projects is the second chicken tractor, and after that it will be the produce stand or the woodshed (or both at once, because that’s how I roll 😉  ).  I’m also working on a few sewing projects indoors that I’m sure I’ll write about pretty soon, and Miss Lady’s 3rd annual Tea Party will be next month, so I’ll be writing about that sometime in the next month.  Was there a post on something else that I promised?  Don’t let me forget 🙂  What from our homestead would you like to hear more about?  Don’t forget to let us know in the comments!

Love~Danielle

P.S.  If you haven’t seen it already we are having a giveaway for the blog with a few items made here on the homestead.  Check out this link to find out how you can enter to win.  Entry open until July 4th at 1 a.m.