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DIY Bulk Chicken Feeder
Chicken feed can cost a lot of money out of your budget, so you don’t want to waste any of it. A bulk chicken feeder makes sure nothing gets wasted.
This DIY feeder is simple to make and costs less than $20. Chances are you waste more than that in feed each year. The design also stops the animals from tossing out their chicken feed all around their coop and making a mess. Once made, all you have to do is dump the bag into the bucket and your chickens can feed freely.
What You Need
- PVC Pipe Elbow
- Plastic Bucket – 4 or 5 Gallon
- Block of Wood
- Screws
- Sharp Knife or a Hole Saw
- Ruler
- Marker
- Drill
How to Make a DIY Bulk Chicken Feeder
1- Take one of the elbow pipes and cut off about ⅔ of the bottom of the pipe. Doing so sits on the floor of the feeder so they can access the food.
2- Now, take your marker and mark where the floor is on the inside of the bucket. Place your block of wood on the side of the bucket. Put the bottom of the block on the mark you made and then mark the top of it.
3- Right above the top of the second mark you made, place the PVC pipe and trace around it with the marker.
4- Next, take your hole saw or sharp knife to cut the hole out for the PVC pipe. If you run your drill backward, it makes a cleaner cut when you’re working with plastic.
5- The next step is to put screws into your cut PVC pipe, so you can attach the PVC pipe to your block of wood. Simply use a drill and screw two, stainless steel screws into the remaining part of the bottom of the PVC pipe. Then, continue into the small block of wood.
6- Put the PVC elbow into the large hole you cut through the side of the bucket. The block of wood should sit nicely on the bottom of the bucket. The next step will be to secure the block of wood in the bucket by screwing it in place.
7- You might have to drill a few practice holes into the bottom of your bucket to make sure that you have it in the right spot. It should be in the middle of your bucket, or close to the middle! Once you find the right spot, secure the block of wood by drilling in two screws.
8- To keep the PVC pipe nice and secure, it is a good idea to run some silicone caulking around the exterior the bucket and PVC pipe. Doing so also stops any type of moisture from entering through this small crack, which could turn your chicken feed moldy.
Each chicken is a different height, so you may want to put the feeder up on a block of wood. You also could hang the bucket by the handle from a hook. Placing it a bit higher helps prevent your chickens from needing to strain their necks to reach the feed.
