
Don’t throw away the lid – you’ll still need it.

Next – place the bucket in the bottom of the plant base so the top of the bucket is still up. Make sure the bottom edge of the holes are no higher up than 1/2″ from the very bottom of the bucket. How it’s done: To make the Chicken feeder – drill several holes about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch diameter around the bottom of the bucket. Of note, we also feed our chickens leftover veggie scraps, so that may delay how often we need to re-fill it. The 5-gallon feeder I’m currently using is pictured below – after filling it with feed, it will last about 3 – 4 weeks for 13 chickens. Of course, any local retailer such as Walmart, Target, or your local hardware store would carry them as well. The plastic planter bases cost around $5.00 – $10.00.
#5 gallon bucket pvc chicken feeder for free
I made a 5-gallon feeder and waterer using two 5-gallon buckets I got for free at our local grocery store – usually the bakery or deli section – and two 20-inch plastic planter bases. The farm stores all carry a nice selection of chicken feeders and water containers but they can be rather expensive. You basically just need some glue to hold the fittings together, and a hack saw to cut the plastic piping to the correct length and that’s it! 5 Gallon Chicken Feeder But it will save you a lot of money to buy the pipes at Home Depot, Lowes, etc. You can make these feeders yourself or buy them online. Here are a few ideas to help eliminate, or at least reduce, the amount of chicken feed spilled on the floor from those crazy birds! Can Be Moved If Needed – maybe this doesn’t apply to you, but it took ME a while to position my roosts, feeder, and watering system in my own coop and I appreciated the fact that my bucket feeder could be easily re-positioned.Īs mentioned earlier, chicken feed spillage can be costly.Conversely, you don’t want to buy a huge feeder if you have 2 chickens as the food may get stale. Holds Enough Feed To Support Your Flock – you don’t want to buy a feeder that’s too small for your flock or you’ll have to refill it all the time.Durable – must withstand chickens flying on top of it, etc.Does Not Spill A Lot Of Feed (most important) – Feed spillage can cost you a lot of money!.Either way is fine, but let’s dive in and look at a variety of different chicken feeder ideas, both DIY and from the store, so you can make an informed choice! What Makes A Good Chicken Feeder? You're almost ready.If you’ve landed here, you’re contemplating what type of chicken feeder to either buy or make yourself. Once your holes have been drilled, move the feeder pipes into place and secure them to the metal straps using the screws. When lowered for the chicks to use, keep the screw in place to keep the feed from coming out. A screw placed through the strap and into the pipe using this new hole will keep the feeder up and out of the way when you are cleaning and maintaining your coop. Before putting the screws in place, raise the feeder up as high as possible and drill a hole in the pipe using the bottom metal strap as the guide. If your feeders will be in a place that will block areas that need to be cleaned such as ours, follow this additional step. If your feeders are placed on an outer wall and will not need to be raised, skip this next step. Once the night is determine, drill 2 holes in the pipe using the holes in the straps as the guide. I have 2 bantams in my flock, so I positioned mine to make sure it was easy for them to reach.

The height of the feeders will depend on the coop and the chickens.
