Attach back of feeder to the sides and base with 1 1⁄2-inch wood screws and glue. Attach sides 1 and 2 to the base using 1 1⁄2-inch wood screws and glue.Ģ. Hand saw (I recommend the finer-cut Japanese pull saw)Ģ1⁄32” x 16” x 72” paint–grade, edge-glued pine panel (1)ĥ⁄8” x 6” x 72” cedar fence board for lid, trim and treadle (2)ġ. Add a few wood screws and wood glue, and you have all the supplies you need to get started. Even purchasing all of the lumber, the cost was less than $20: $15.79 for the pine panel and about $2 each for the cedar fence boards. I used scraps from my chicken coop construction for the first feeder I constructed. You may substitute plywood for the pine and cedar boards. I constructed my feeder using one 21⁄32-inch-by-16-inch-by-72-inch edge–glued pine panel for the body of the feeder and two 5⁄8-inch-by-6-inch-by-72-inch cedar fence boards for the trim and arm pieces. Our chickens are growing just fine, and they don’t seem to have suffered any harm they’re every bit as entertaining as they’ve always been. But, once again, chickens learn pretty quickly. When the first chicken finished eating and stepped off the treadle, the second chicken would get whacked on the head. The first few days after removing the brick from the treadle, I did notice a process I called “eating from the side.” One chicken would stand on the treadle eating, while a second chicken would come in from the side and start eating without being on the treadle. Second, chickens learn quickly – they only have to get whacked on the head a couple of times before they figure out the process. First of all, cedar is a fairly light wood, so the lid does not crash shut with a lot of force. Several people have been concerned that the feeder will become some type of decapitation device, clamping down on a chicken’s head, leaving the chicken running around like a … well, you know. They had no problem adapting to the treadle after that. After the chickens got used to standing on the platform to eat, I removed the brick. I put a brick on the treadle and left the lid up for a few weeks. This was our first time raising chickens, and when I first put the feeder out, the chicks were too small and frightened to raise the lid by themselves. You will be pleased with the result because the feed is kept dry, songbirds, mice and other rodents can’t get in the feed, less feed is wasted by the chickens scattering it, and the feeder will hold several days’ worth of food. Follow these directions to build a chicken feeder. The best part is that you can build a treadle-opened feeder yourself – in fact, it makes a fun weekend project that can be completed with common tools and basic carpentry skills. One way to keep the feed safe from spoilage and purloinage is to keep it covered – but how will the chickens gain access? Through a bit of physics, it’s possible to employ some carefully designed levers and fulcrums that will cause the feeder to open when a chicken (or an object of similar weight) steps on a perch-like treadle let us teach you how to build a chicken feeder. There are some good galvanised grit hoppers like this one that will last a lifetime but will cost you a few pounds more to start with.Whether you have a large laying flock or just a few backyard hens, keeping them fed is a regular chore (never mind the expense), especially if the feeder isn’t weatherproof and allows rodents and wild birds access. Grit containers come in a variety of shapes and sizes – the priority is really to make sure it doesn’t get tipped over or filled up with water. If you can’t find Oystershell grit from your local store, baked, crushed egg shells will do the same job – after all, they are mainly made up of calcium! Put them in the oven for 10 minutes to dry them out and crunch them up before mixing them in to your grit hopper.Īlthough grit is heavy, if all else fails, you can still buy it online here. High production hybrid hens are capable of producing a staggering number of eggs in a year on very little feed (known commercially as the ‘conversion ratio’) so they are more likely to need the extra calcium to be able to produce the right number of eggs of sufficient quality. These days, with the research that has been done for formulated feeds (available as layers mash or layers pellets), it isn’t so critical to provide oystershell grit because layers feeds contain sufficient calcium, however, it’s cheap and it’s easy to mix some in with the flint grit that they need above so it’s a good idea to provide some, in case they need more calcium. Most of an egg shell is made up of calcium. In order to form strong egg shells, chickens require a certain amount of calcium in their diet.
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