8 types of feeders for chickens with their own hands

Feeding poultry according to labor costs and cash costs is in the first place in the process of its breeding. In this regard, the selection of ready-made feeders should be approached with skill.

You can save money if you do it yourself. In addition to the material stimulus, you will receive moral and aesthetic pleasure, seeing how the chickens eat from the feeders made with their own hands.

Requirements

There are certain requirements for their manufacture:

• Strength: they must be made of a material that holds a certain shape, little or not deformed;
• Convenience in operation: it is convenient to clean, food can be easily filled in, and it is convenient for the bird to feed from it;
• The number of units must ensure the performance of its task - feed all livestock (if you put one small feeder for 50-100 heads, you can only imagine what will happen in the hen house);
• A feeder made of a specific material should be used. for a certain type of feed;
• She must be steady (do not tip over or fall on its side from direct contact with the bird);
• Rational use (it is made in such a way as to make it impossible to enter litter in it and minimize the ingress of garbage).
• Is made not from harmful for feeding materials.

Types of homemade chicken feeders

All feeders are classified according to the following criteria:

Depending on the method of feeding:

• bunker;
• gutter

Depending on the material from which they are made:

• wooden;
• solid metal;
• plastic;
• from metal mesh or rods:
• combined.

From plastic bottle

This model of the feeder is considered the easiest to manufacture. Simply put is just a bowl of food in the hen house.

Manufacturing techniques are as follows:

In 1.5 liter bottles, the bottom is cut (feed is poured through it) and we make holes closer to the neck around the perimeter so that grain is poured through it.

From the 2-liter bottles, the bottom is cut too, but the sides are left at a height of 10 cm (they cover the bottles that contain food, against rain, other moisture and ingress of foreign bodies). 5-liter bottles are cut so that the distance from the cut line to the bottom is not more than 15 cm.

In the center of the cut tanks make a hole in the diameter of the neck 1.5 l. the bottle. In the 50x30 plywood sheet we also make holes in the diameter of 1.5 liters. the bottle. It remains for us to lower the 1.5 liter bottle into a container of larger diameter so that the neck goes through 2 openings and leaves the bottom of the plywood piece.

Further, the cap tightens from the bottom. In 1.5 l. The feeder is ready.

From a 5 liter plastic bottle

Feeder do in different ways. The easiest is to cut a small diameter hole around the bottom perimeter that is sufficient to spill the grain, another type of dry food; in the bottle itself you can fill the grain through a watering can inserted into the neck. From below we substitute any vessel.

In the process of eating grain will pour through the holes in a substituted vessel. It can be made in another way: in the same container we cut small squares of such size around the perimeter so that the chicken can freely stick its head inside and peck up the grain. With this option, do not even need a plate as a pallet.

But if you need to tighten the structure, make it more massive, screw a piece of plywood to the bottom of the bottle. This prevents the bottle from tipping over if the feed supply is running out.

How to make a bunker bird feeder

The above-described methods for the manufacture of plastic troughs are also a kind of bunker troughs, but without a feed control mechanism.

An improved version of the bunker trough is done this way:

Plywood is cut into several pieces:

• front of the bunker - 40x50 cm;
• rear part - 40x40 cm;
• 2 side walls conical shape for connecting the front and rear walls;
• opening up cap slightly larger than the size of the upper part of the bunker.

At the bottom of the bunker is left a slot for spilling food in a tray for eating by birds. As the feed is eaten by chickens, the level of feed in the bunker is lowered. It is easy to fill up.

To do this, open the lid and fill the required amount. It will be improved by making a grain feed adjustment mechanism at the bottom. The principle of its operation is to reduce the size of the slot (s) or increase it depending on the structure of the feed. This type of feeder attached both indoors and outdoors.

Auto-feeder and drinking bowl from sewer pipe

It can be made of plastic PVC sewer pipe. Better if you take the average diameter - 15 centimeters. In addition, for the arrangement will need two plugs and a tee. The length we choose such what is needed. Two pieces of a length of 20 centimeters and 10 centimeters are cut off the pipe.

Then they interconnect with the tee the longest and 20-centimeter sections of the pipe, set at the ends of the cap. A 10-centimeter piece of pipe is connected to the tee branch - this will be a feed tray.

Feed (or water in the case of the auto drinker) and fix it on the wall of the chicken coop with the long side to the top.

Some offer the following version of a self-made construction from scrap materials: Drill holes at the bottom of the pipe on both sides, expanding them to a diameter of 70 millimeters so that birds have free access to feed. A stub is put on one side of the pipe, and the second segment is attached with a knee at a right angle. Feed is poured into it and a second plug is placed. You can also make an automatic drinker.

In our opinion, such a feeder has a very big drawback: as the bird eats itself, the feed will not be able to move along the pipe, but will be collected near the first hole, since there is no bias. The ideal angle of inclination in this case is difficult to do, since the friction coefficient of each feed is different.

Wood version

One version of the manufacture of wood feeders was painted above (bunker feeder). You can make another variety. To do this, you will need boards or slats made of wood.

The length is arbitrary. Let it be 1.5 meters. For the side walls we prepare 2 blanks with a size of 150 cm x 10 cm, and 2 blanks with a size of 20 cm x 15 cm. We make all this together as shown in the figure. To give strength to the structure and prevent the bird from getting into the trough, nails a wide rail from above.

Instead of slats, you can take any cuttings from inventory, such as shovels. Attach on both sides of the need so that it rotates easily around its axis. This is necessary in order to make it difficult for the chickens to sit on the feeder and keep their balance.

It should be taken into account: it is advisable to use a wooden feeder in covered rooms to avoid wetting and deterioration of the material. It is not suitable for wet food, as it complicates the work of the poultry farmer in cleaning it.

From metal mesh or bars

This version of the feeder is useful for greenery, because otherwise the grass will be dragged by chickens throughout the house. The feeder stands in one place. To construct it, you just need to bend a welded metal mesh of small diameter into a ring and attach the ends to each other.

The bottom of this trough is not. But for strength, it is nailed to a wooden, plywood or any other plane.corresponding to the diameter of the ring. Cover with something covered. This design makes it easy to throw away all the faded content and put fresh green mass. Naturally, it is not suitable for bulk feed, since it has a large cellular structure.

Homemade chicken feeders do it yourself

Chickens in the first days of life need to eat particularly well. If their number is small, the problem with containers for food is easy to solve. To do this, install one feeder. But if their livestock is more than a hundred, then they will grow up very soon and in order to provide normal access to the feed, it is necessary to install several feeders or one big one.

Bunker version of scrap materials

The easiest feeder for chickens can be made from an ordinary plastic bottle. The essence of the design is to cut several windows in one row so that the chicken can stick its head and peck at the feed. To the side of the cut-out windows at an angle of 90 degrees, cut one or two smaller openings to the size of the bottle neck.

Cut the bottle, as shown in the figure is inserted into the hole. The result was a kind of watering can, through which feed is filled.

It is possible to offer another option of bunker feeder for chickens.

To do this, from any light solid material (for example, the thinnest extruded foam) cut a circle in which holes are made along the contour so that the chickens can eat the feed.

Cut a hole in the middle according to the diameter of the bottle or jar in which we fall asleep. Under the bottom we substitute any vessel (you can have a plastic bowl). With an inverted jar, grain is poured into a bowl as it is eaten. The diameter of the circle should be slightly larger than the diameter of the bowl.

If we take a glass jar as a bunker, then this design option has one major drawback - in order to fill it, you need to turn the jar over and fill it with compound feed. Then put on her foam circle, a bowl, and only then turn it all over and put it on the floor.

This design is suitable only for growing chickens., as the grown young or adult bird overturns the jar, and it can break.

Automatic feed for chickens

As a matter of fact, the automatic feeder is made in such a way that it’s no matter what it is and what it’s made of: a plastic bottle, glass, wooden, etc.) as the bird eats the grain, it pours into the container under the bunker (bowl , cell other).

Almost all of the above types of feeders are built on a bunker basis. This is an auto feeder. That is, having poured the grain into the bunker once, for example, in the morning, the owner does not worry about feeding the bird in 3, 6 or 24 hours. When it is empty, the bunker is again filled with food.

For its equipment you need only a bowl or disposable plastic dishes., depending on the size of the bunker itself (it could be a 20-liter bucket, or maybe an ice cream bucket).

In the bottom along the perimeter we cut small holes so that the food can be poured into the bowl when it is eaten. On top of this design is covered with a lid.

It can be made more mobile if you attach a handle to the design.

As you can see, the techniques of manufacturing feeders very much. We stop our choice, based on the specific situation: the number of birds, its age, conditions of detention, the availability of certain materials in the household, for what purposes it is grown (for example, if it is broilers, then the bunker feeder (it is also an auto-feeder) , because broilers need to constantly eat, and from time to time during the day to feed the bird feed is quite troublesome).

In addition, the feed itself also depends on the composition of the feed. For example, a metal or plastic feeder of an open type is better suited for a wet mash. Its easier to wash. For bulk feed, the ideal option is bunker feeders. They ensure the dryness of the food inside it and its purity.