Chicken Feeder

We wanted to make a chicken feeder that would automatically drop food when the container was getting low. We were also hoping to lessen the amount of food the chickens were wasting and pecking out of the container onto the ground. A lot of research was done to decide what would work best for our coop. We didn't want to have to get under the coop to give the chickens more food so we were looking into options that would allow us to fill the feeder from outside of the coop. The design we went with was using PVC pipe and making an "L" and attaching it to the outside of the coop. We initially used 4" PVC for the vertical pipe and used a 4" to 2" elbow with 2" PVC for the horizontal feeder pipe. On the 2" pipe, holes were drilled so the chickens would stick their head in the pipe so there would be less chance of them wasting food on the ground. At the time, we were using chicken food crumbles and it was staying in the 4" pipe and not flowing into the 2". We then got the chicken food pellets to see if they would flow into the 2" better. That still didn't help the food flow into the 2" pipe. We then used 3" PVC for the entire feeder so there would not be a place for the food to bottle neck at. We attached the feeder to the side of the coop and had the horizontal pipe go into the coop. With changing the PVC's to the same size and switching to the pellet food, it helps to allow the food to flow a bit better. It has been a lot easier to feed the chickens every couple of days instead of every day with this feeder. It has also saved a lot of food from being wasted on the ground. It is so much easier to fill the food from the outside of the coop instead of the hanging feeder that was under their coop. All we have to do it pull the cap off the top of the feeder and pour the pellets into the pipe. Having that cap on the top keeps the food dry and bug free.

Here is the finished project attached and in use on our coop. We tilted the pipe and put it over the front of our coop to allow the pellets to flow easier through the elbow to the feeder pipe. It allowed us to have the horizontal feeder pipe at a slight downward angle to help the pellets fall.

As you can see from the dirt on the feeder tube, we have been using this feeder for a little while now and it has been working well. We occasionally have to shake or kick the pipe to get more food to fall, but enough pellets fall to allow the chickens to eat for a few days. 

Enjoy!