DIY Automatic Chicken Feeder | Simple PVC Design | 5 Minute Build For $12
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- čas přidán 14. 03. 2020
- In this video we show you how to make a DIY Automatic Chicken Feeder. We needed a way to feed our chickens and not have to worry about it every day. It is a simple design from a piece of sewer PVC which takes about 5 minutes to build and costs only about $12. Help support our family and channel! Shop Amazon through this link: www.amazon.com/shop/countryli...
This feeder is calculated to hold 1.5 weeks of food for 9 chickens. We show you how to calculate just how much food one of these feeders will hold.
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Just wanted to drop a comment saying thanks you for this video. My wife and I started homesteading only a year ago and have found the community to be overwhelmingly friendly and helpful. Feels like we are all in it together, in a way. Excited to try this for our hens!
You're so welcome. Thank you for the kind comment.
Subscribed , built a chicken shack here in Florida out of scraps from construction sites around me , installed fence, and almost ready for chickens.
Awesome. They are great livestock to have on a homestead.
Love the project! I'm going to try it for my rabbits! They throw food out of their bowls already, so even if they do it with this feeder, it will be a huge win if i dont have to fill 3 bowls twice a day! 🐇 😀
Glad it was helpful
A "U" trap type of setup at the bottom will fix your feed-being-thrown-out problem. The feed level will always stay low and they can't just pull it out while they're digging for the pieces of corn they like.
you should cut a 45 degree slit through the back and glue in a piece so the food angles towards the opening rather than 3 inches of food forever staying collected at the bottom
Love the Ron Paul t-shirt!!
Thank you
Awesome! Also love the Ron Paul shirt!
It was the Ron Paul 2012 shirt for me. 😎
Awesome!
Hands down the best automatic feeder I’ve seen after searching CZcams for a while.
Thank you Tim
@Gary Greene may be you add a 45 degree elbow at the top and make it point to the outside of your coop
What about the feed at the. Very bottom?
I've basically built this exact feeder but I'm on CZcams because my girls are wasting so much feed. An your quick little lip just answered my problem.
Glad we could help
SO USEFUL!!
Glad it was helpful!
So helpful! We will be making this week for our coop!
Glad we could help.
Nice vid. I made mine today of 3" PVC pipe. A 3 foot pre-cut pipe from Lowes and a street 90 and a street 45. I only have 4 chickens being in the city. We are only allowed 5 chickens and no Roosters. I did the waterer like you did and it works great.
Awesome!
i made one very similar to this one, it works fantastic.
Cool
Love the Ron Paul shirt!
Thanks Doc
Brilliant idea
Thank you
Thank you. great, simple build. Thanks
My pleasure!
Fantastic DIY
Thank you
Just built it, works great. Needed something to keep the seed from getting on the ground because I do a chicken woodchip composting operation out of the chicken run to fill my raised beds and the seeds would end up in the raised beds.
Awesome!
This is a great idea 👍
Thanks
Thanks for sharing. I'm going to see if Hubby will try this for our girls.
You’re welcome
Nice idea 💡
Thank you
Very cool ! Simple but effective . I like it. I’m going to build one tomorrow thank you for the great idea !
Glad you like it!
@@CountryLivingExperiencehi will this method keep rats out of the feed as well? Thank you
@@samuraioodon No, that is what it is designed to do.
Thank you for doing the math for me!
You’re welcome
We used one of these with crumble feed for a while, but with the humidity in florida it would get moldy and clumpy before it was time to refill.
Yea, same in Texas. We use pellets.
This is very helpful. Thank you!
P.S. Nice shirt :) I've got his 2012 bumper sticker on my college laptop.
Awesome!
Thanks for the video! im gonna do the same thing but put a 45 on the top with a cap, cut a hole in my wire of the chicken run poke the 45 end out so I can fill it up without going in the run.
You’re welcome. That is a good modification.
The only issue with the bottom fitting is the stagnant space at the bottom that will not get emptied unless the tube is serviced.
How about a lollipop shape that allows constant feed thru ?
Also, cap the end with a drain spout Offset Down Spout Tubing Adapter to eliminate cutting and gluing the half moon cover.
In any case, what about insect, ants, and rodent infestation?
I have this set up with a 5' - 5 1/2' tank pipe.
My birds went through well over half in one day. 18 guineas and 4 chickens.
They're locked in now because of faxes.
This works good but won't last long depending on how many birds you're feeding.
I have 9 chickens. Lasts for me.
Sounds like you need to add an additional pipe feeder or two. I have 18 large breed chickens. I use three feeders. Two weeks is a realistic estimate. Works great. I use the 4 inch downspout on the bottom and it does cut down on waste.
I seen another such video where the builder just made plywood circles to close the ends and put 2 screws . That way it wasn’t so deep.
Would be nice to see it in use...
As a plumber, if any pvc hits alot of sunlight, be sure to paint it. Sun deteriorates untreated pvc pretty rapidly
Yep, thank you. Our are inside the coop or under cover.
I believe that fitting is a sanitary tee
Yes. Thank you
I’m at the store right now and the piece at the bottom alone is $34. The sewer pipe is $30. The caps are $20
Inflation is a killer tax. Gone up a lot since I made the video.
Make sure to vote wisely
RAWPAW 2012 !!!!
bags of feed are expensive. guess i could get some for emergencies if i do this.
Thanks for your video; I'm doing research to support some chickens properly. I'm afraid there are a few things I won't do that you've shown here. I want a lot more feeding stations than one - for nine birds. And I would not glue that piece in where they can pick at it. I might take an end cap, and cut it into two, (perhaps three pieces) and use those as guards to prevent feed from spilling. And perhaps I'll use a 4" drain pipe instead of schedule 40 but I for sure will channel it into a feeding station that has several ports for birds. Angle that down a bit and put a 'clean-out' on the end of it and you could use an elbow at the bottom, instead of making your end cap with extension setup. You're already using that banding to secure it - so why not one top and bottom? Although I plan on fixing it so it's removable, just in case. But I watched. and commented.
You had me at RON PAUL
Awesome! Welcome.
Nice shirt
Thank you
I like the idea but would like to be able to put a cap on it at night to keep other critters out
You could. Just buy a cap to fit
Use a 4 in. down about in the feeder end. Face the downspout in the up direction. It cuts down on waste. Works great.
Interesting. Isn't that too tall for your chickens?
Have you needed to clean the "waste" food that sits in the bottom of the "t" to the end cap? We did ours with a 90 and 45 at the bottom (wish now i would have used a long sweep 90) and still have a bit of waste that a heavy (side) rain makes a nice treat to clean....
Mine is inside the coop. I have had no moisture problems so I haven't had any waste food issues.
Liked-Subscribed-Notfied. Great Video. Suggestion: Instead of gluing in the "head entrance" to the feeder - why not take an end cap, cut it with the Dremel (I noticed that you were pretty handy with it), remove any sharp edges (sandpaper or propane torch), and put that on the end? I think it would be sturdier - albeit maybe slightly more expensive on materials? My motto's: Anything over-designed never failed... when in doubt, build it stout. ;)
Welcome to the channel. The end cap cut out is a great idea. Thank you.
Great video! Would you attach this feeder inside the run or inside their coop? My coop has the run attached to it so not sure where to put this.
It depends. We put ours inside the coop so it has no chance of moisture getting to it.
What about using a wye fitting so there would be no need to cut and glue the moon shape plastic in?
I actually have another one with a wye fitting. They still throw it out. I had to put the same half moon piece of plastic on that one too. Chickens are messy eaters.
I tried the wye also and found it gets clogged now I am changing to this one. My husband even put a 6” in and the go inside it and scratch.
This pipe is called a sanitary pipe at Lowe’s.
Great idea, but you should make one modification. There will be feed at the bottom of the pipe that the chickens will never be able to reach. Basically, they won't be able to reach anything below the hole. It won't be so much of an issue in terms of feeding them, because you'll just keep filling it back up. HOWEVER, you'll have some feed that will get old and stale, just sitting there forever.
You can fix it by cutting off the bottom part of the 90 degree/T coupling. What's left over should a. be the size of the normal pipe, which should b. allow you to put a cap on it. Good idea and it's pretty much what I'm going to do, just with the slight modifications.
I ended up just putting a bottle in the bottom. It prevents the feed from accumulating down low.
Just purchased the material to make 2 and it’s about 25 per unit to make. Trying a screw in bottom.
Also I think chickens make less of a mess if you get their food up a little higher. What height do you have the open part from the ground at?
Go green!!!
Go White!
We kept our opening at about 8". Seems to work for us well as there is not a lot of feed spillage.
Good video, I am wondering it is ok to feed chicken all day?
Thank you. Yes it it ok. Chickens will not overeat.
OK love your design. So what’s the verdict did it actually keep your chickens fed for a week and a half?
Thank you. Yes, it does. They have always eaten at that same rate.
better idea, glue the cap to the 4 inch section, but not to the t- fitting, water will get into the bottom of the feeder if cap is not glued
Is that from experience?
@@CountryLivingExperience no, just popped in my head lol
just so you know, a little trick with cutting that kind of pipe.. buy yourself an old school handsaw, and you won't have to worry about keeping it straight so much it will be much easier to cut as well.
I have a coping saw. I just didn't think to use it at that time.
Would it be worth potentially putting a 5 gallon bucket on top? Making this for a week long reunion I’m leaving on. Thanks for the free resources ☺️
Sure, if you can engineer that it would work well.
Would a 3 inch pipe work as well I have some laying around or would it be to small for chickens 😎
That would work. They can fit their heads in that.
Isn't the weight of the food going to pop off that bottom cap? Maybe secure with some screws
No. That cap is tight enough and the weight of the food is not enough to force it up.
Nice. Feeding is one at a time, right?
Thanks. Several chickens can fit their heads inside at one time.
Is the feeder available inside the coop or inside the run? My coop is pretty small and really only good for sleeping and nesting boxes. I could make it work, but I also worry about the feed being outside and getting mice and bugs finding their way to the food during the night. Thoughts or suggestions?
Mine is inside the coop. Luckily it is very slim and compact so it sits out of the way and does not take up any floorspace. I never put feed outside because of rodents, bugs, and moisture.
Metal storage bins they almost look like garbage bins they have small medium and large and it works from any bugs and rodents
@@kalievesely3200could you send more info on that please
Where did you get the plastic for cutting the moon shape? Or where can I get something similar?
I used an old swimming pool. You can find some sort of plastic sheets like that at a hardware store.
The only thing i see as an issue, is that they will never get to the feed that sits at the bottom.
Just make sure they finish it all before refilling
It is pretty deep at the bottom. I seen another builder just cap the end with plywood and 2 screws. I think that wouldn’t be so deep and would still be able to come apart for cleaning.
Do you have something filling the bottom where the cap is to prevent feed from just sitting down in there? ty
Nothing in the bottom. My chickens are able to eat it down quite low and I have no moisture getting into the feeder so I am not worried about it.
I used bubblewrap
I did this, but every time it rains the feed gets wet and moldy. I've got it capped, and I have an elbow on the feeder opening to prevent water from getting in. It's very humid where I live so must just be the moisture from condensation?
They should not be outside. This is made for inside the coop. I never have an issue with humidity and I am in Texas.
I used 4" ID PVC pipe (that is 4.5"OD), but can NOT find the light-weight endcap like you have anywhere. Where did you get yours, and is it 4.5" ID? Everyone has 4" caps, but they don't fit the 4.5" OD pipe. Thanks.
This was sewer pipe. The dims are a bit different and the couplings are different. They are not compatible with regular pvc water pipe components. I got them at Home Depot.
People think of homesteasders as mostly rural people "uneducated folk". You just casually threw in the "pie r squared plus h". Rural people understand calculus better than city folk because it actually has an effect on their life in being efficient.
Amen to that! I use trigonometry to form square corners on the fencing too.
And, we can do it on pencil and paper without an electronic device, too! heheheheh
Pi*. Agree with your statement but couldn't help myself 😜
That's so true and well put . The ideas people are thought from people like this brilliant man is so cool .
What type of pvc glue did you use? Curious if all purpose pvc cement would be potentially toxic to the chickens?
I use Christy's Red Hot and Blue Glue. I am not worried about toxicity.
just curious, won't the bottom just fill up with seeds/food that'll just stay there until it molds?
My chickens eat is down fairly far and it is inside the coop so not much moisture gets in there. I do clean it out occasionally also.
do they not just eat all and don't have food after few days? I mean how a chicken know to stop on 1/4 pound. i was looking for a daily timed chicken feeder but this also looks great
No. Chickens know when to stop eating. It lasts for the time I specified. Sometimes a day less, sometimes a day more.
@@CountryLivingExperience thanks a lot. Will try this one!
How are they all going to fit at the same time to eat?
They don't all eat at the same time.
My ten chickens go through 40lb bag of feed every week.
That’s a lot. Do they eat anything else? Free range for bugs and grass?
Watching this video in March 2022 and laughing about how you can barely buy the t-sweep footing for that price in NY 😂😂
Inflation is insane!
I find that "Y"s work better than 90° sloped pvc. No need for half moon shape in the front for spillage. Here in Central Florida, we have too much humidity to use this system for feeding because the feed will get moldy very fast, even overnight, especially during summer rainy season.
I'm also in Central Florida. What type of automatic feeder do you use?
Hello there, we really need your advice, after watching this video we went ahead and did exactly as you showed, but the chickens emptied it out in 3 days, the food is all over the floor, what's the trick, the halfmoon part should be higher or is it that our girls are messier than yours. I wish I could show you a picture. So you can help us troubleshoot. Please help, we need advice.
Not sure how that happened. Maybe try making the half moon bigger equaling a smaller hole for them to put their head in. (yes, chickens are super messy)
Ok so the t-shaped coupling has a huge space where feed just sits, why not use a u-shaped elbow instead?
Basically for stability on the bottom. Flat bottom is much more stable.
Lost two chickens from this homemade feeder. 9week old chicken went into the bottom to get the lower feed (I made two of these, but they preferred one), and she got stuck. I now put a piece of round wood in the bottom to prevent this from happening again.
Strange, mine have never had a problem. Glad you got it worked out with a good fix.
How do you prevent mices to eat them?
The feeders are inside the coop which is closed at night. Chickens will kill a mouse inside the coop if they see it.
But not if the light is off.
Use a downspout adapter instead of the cut piece. As shown on “Nature Knows Best” channel.
You mean, Nature's Always Right channel?
So I made this but every time it rains or is just very humid the food binds up and gets clogged. It looked great until I have to clear clogged food every day so chickens can eat
Mine only gets clumps in the bottom once every 6 months. I live in Texas so it is very humid and I have no issues. I hope yours is inside of your coop or under a covered run.
Anyone have problems with the food getting funky from water or moisture?
Mine are under cover so no moisture gets to them.
Volume = π (3.14) x Radius ² x Height
Correct
@@CountryLivingExperience Wasn't directed at you. I try to do what I can to help the senior community. They are notoriously bad at searching the internet for such things.
Ah, I understand. That's cool.
@@jason4547 us seniors are far more likely to remember the formula without having having a phone to figure it out. :)
please show it practically about this feeder.intresting but not understanding completely how to use it
How come you didn't use an Lbow at the bottom
Stability
I made this exact and my hens are still making a mess even with the plastic guard. I'm trying to figure out a solution
Chickens are messy. Imagine if the pipe didn't have the plastic guard.
Same here. I made this and chickens are making a big mess
I'm not sure did the design but feed keeps pouring out? Any sokution
Did you put the small plastic piece at the front of the opening?
Yes I did almost 3/4 moon shape.
@@williammueller474 I am not sure. Mine does not pour out at all. It stays completely in the pipe.
Mine just poured over the top of the half moon onto the ground.
@@CountryLivingExperience Mine also pours out above the 1/2 moon. Can't figure out what I did wrong. Do I have to cap the opening while filling with feed?
Have you had an issue with filling them up in the rain?
Mine are inside my coop.
How will more than 3 chickens eat at the same time?
They don’t usually….or they just push each other out of the way.
@@CountryLivingExperience ok thank you for your information I’ll try it out
What about the food sitting in the bottom all the time? it won't go anywhere.. why not just use an elbow on the bottom?
You would be surprised how far the chickens stick their neck in there. I clean it out occasionally.
Why am i thinking that the bottom of the feeder is gonna get a lot of feed down there that the chickd can't get to and its gonna get as you say all nasty & moldy???
I put a bottle in the bottom so that a lot of feed does not sit down inside.
RON PAUL 2020
Wouldn't that be nice.
good except where did you get the plastic to make the moon shape? my chickens emptied a 4 foot tube all over the ground in 2 days. waste of time and money sorry.
Improvise, adapt, and overcome
@@CountryLivingExperience also here in Canada it cost more like $50 bucks. Not $12. Takes more than one tool also. You used a dremel and a hack saw minimally. I will try to fix them as I am over $100 into it but not such a simple fool proof project.
Wow your chickens eat less than ours. We have 11 and them hens scarf up a bag every 2 weeks but they lay 7-10 eggs a day.
Yea, our girls don't seem to eat that much. They are still producing a lot of eggs though.
1st
Nice idea, but I think this will also feed the rats. We only feed what they can eat in a day.
How are 9 chicks feed off 1 feeder are they all going to wait in line lol?
Two can eat at a time and chickens do not need to eat all at the same time. They do take turns depending on where they are in the pecking order. Please understand chickens and behavior before making silly comments.
Why are you feeding chickens in the coop? Why not feed them outside
Rodents will just be attracted to the food if it sits outside. They will come when the chickens are roosting and sleeping. I have zero poop that gets in my feeders.
Correct me if im wrong,, it cant be good for the chickens to scrape the waddles on pvc while eating
Never had a problem. Doesn’t seem to bother them. No sores or abrasions on their waddles.
😂I ain't ever had one hurt his ol waddle.🤣 Mines got a biggin, too!🐔
It frustrates me that people call this type of feeder "Automatic" It's just a pipe style feeder. there's nothing more automatic about it than dumping pellets on the grounds :/
It last a lot longer for me than throwing it on the ground. The ground lasts, maybe one day. I fill the pipe up it's at least 6 to 7 days.
Pvc is expensive. Idk how you’re making this for under $15… just one WYE 3” pvc pipe is $15 alone
This was 3 years ago. Inflation is a killer tax. It is sewer pipe which is less expensive too.
I don’t think we want all that poop in the coop
you cannot open the pipes all the time or your amount will not last for a week. chicken eat all the time, you only need to open the pipe for two hours everyday
That is incorrect on both points.
@@CountryLivingExperience please elaborate more, because i know chicken does not know when to stop eating. That is why we dont let them eat all day.
@@ZaherHamiyah Chickens will not constantly eat feed from a trough. They graze and forage continuously all day but will not overeat. My feed does last for over a week.
Why not a 45° bend at the bottom?why a T? That's kind of not very helpful.
Modify it if you want to.
I fail to see how this feeder can work. With the tube above the feed hole the grain will pour out the side feeder hole as fast as you pour it in! Come on man?
You fail to see because you fail to try and yet cast stones. Sad.
How in the world will it just pour out?😂 Mine ain't ever did that.
Just built this feeder, feed flowed out of the front onto the ground. Maybe the half moon isn't tall enough but it's at least half way up. Used a piece of schedule 40 pipe I had laying around and the fittings weren't cheap so pretty disappointed that it needs to be rebuilt :/ Just watched other videos that include a reducer inside the tee which brings the output of feed from the top to below/even to the bottom of the side opening. Will be cutting and heat gunning the pipe from the $25 tee fitting to save it and including a reducer inside. Just food for thought to others looking at this design.
We don't have that problem at all. I pour the feed in from the top quickly.
@@CountryLivingExperience Must be a small margin of error somewhere between the one I made and yours. Fitted mine back up last night with that reducer and it works fine now. Will be building a second one this weekend but with the cheaper sewer pipe that you used since I used up my stick of schedule 40. Thanks for the video.
@@LesbianNaziHookers Cool. You're welcome