How to Build a Chicken Feeder

Purchasing the necessary care items for chickens can get expensive over time. A chicken feeder can cost upwards of $30 to $40. Building your own chicken feeder from commonly-available items, however, is easy and costs only a few dollars.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic food grade pail (5-gallon for adult chickens or 1-gallon for baby chicks)
• Shallow metal pan (4 inches in diameter wider than the pail)
• 1/2" plywood: 1 inch wide X interior diameter of pail bottom
• 2 1/4 X 2 inch bolts with nuts
• 1 1/4 X 4 inch bolt with nut
• Sharp cutting blade

Instructions

1. Find a food grade pail with a handle, either a 5 gallon pail for adult chickens or a 1 gallon pail for chicks. You can use it but must thoroughly clean it before starting. A 5 gallon pail can hold about 25 pounds of chicken feed at a time and a 1 gallon pail can hold about 5 pounds.

2. Turn the pail over and cut out the bottom with a sharp blade, leaving a 1 inch rim around the outside of the pail. This gives the feeder stability when the weight of the feed is introduced.

3. Insert a piece of 1/2" plywood that is 1 inch wide and equal to the interior diameter of the pail into the bottom of the pail to rest on the 1 inch rim. Drill 1/4-inch holes through the wood and the rim 1/2 inch from the edge. Attach the wood to the pail's rim with a 2 inch long bolt and fasten with a nut on the inside of the pail.

4. Drill a 1/4 inch hole through the middle of the plywood crossbar and another through the middle of a shallow metal pan that is at least 4 inches in diameter wider than the pail. Bow the center of the pan upward slightly to give the feed a path to flow towards the edges.

5. Attach the feed pan to the pail with a 4 inch bolt through the plywood crossbar and the pan middle, directed downward. Start by putting the bolt through the top of the crossbar in the pail and attaching solidly with a washer and nut. Then put the pan on with the stabilizing disk below it. Allow an inch to start with between the first nut and the pan. Affix the pan and stabilizing disk with a washer and nut.

6. Turn the feeder upright and put feed in to check the flow. If the feed appears to be flowing too slowly, loosen the bottom nut below the stabilizing disk to allow more room between the pail and the pan. If it is flowing too fast, tighten the bolt to reduce the gap between the pail and the pan.

7. Hang the feeder by the pail's handle at the right level for the age of the birds. The feeder should be just low enough that they can get their heads into it but not low enough that they can stand in it.