Making a bird feeder with your own hands

When breeding laying hens at home, questions arise about how best to organize the feeding of the bird, so that the loss of food is minimized. It is not difficult to make feeders for chickens with your own hands, you just need to choose the right materials for the product.

A bird feeder is made from plywood in the following sequence. First, sheets for vertical walls are cut. They are made high. A high feeder for chickens allows one-time filling of mixed fodders or grains for several days, so as not to return to filling them for some time. To ensure that the feed does not get stuck at the outlet, a sheet of plywood is installed at the bottom of the bird feeder, made with its own hands, with a slight inclination towards the front. With this installation, the bulk material will roll down to the front and become accessible to the bird. As a result of experiments to determine the optimal angle of installation of inclined plywood, it was found that a slope equal to 20-25 ^{o is} most suitable for granulated feed. If it is supposed to be fed with grain, then the angle of inclination can be somewhat reduced, it is enough to have it equal to 12-15 °.

In order for the hens to glue the food, it is necessary to create a small area in the front part of the trough, limited by slats. Such an installation will not allow the chickens to scatter food, climb into it with their paws. It will always be available for sowing. The height of the front edge should be 50-65 mm. The side edges can be made one and a half to two times higher, about 80-120 mm. Such fences provide access, but do not allow the bird to climb its paws into the bird feeders. With his hands, the front wall is also sawed out, which will complete the overall formation of the device.

As noted earlier, in order to reduce the time required for servicing the chickens, it is necessary to create a significant amount of feed in the feeder. Therefore, you can increase the height of the feeder to 900-975 mm. At this height, it is not difficult to pour the food with a conventional bucket.

In order for the feeder to last longer, it must be protected from environmental influences. Treatment with antiseptic drugs will prevent rotting. Such impregnation is desirable before the final assembly of the chicken feeder. With your own hands, applying the impregnation can be done using a spray gun. Then the process will take a little time. You can apply antiseptic roller or brush.

Painting with acrylic paint will give a finished look to the chicken feeder. With your own hands, using self-tapping screws and screwdrivers, it is not difficult to perform assembly of the product. The heads of screws should be covered with a primer, and then also painted over with acrylic paint.

In addition to the feeder on the site where the poultry is kept , a drinking bowl for chickens is absolutely necessary. The greatest distribution was found by vacuum drinkers, convenient in operation. For their manufacture, deep plates are used, in which five-liter bottles can be installed from under the water. To the liquid level was not less than 20-35 mm, you need to place a small board of the desired height under the plug with holes. The capacity is fixed by wire.