This is our awesome chicken coop that Aaron and I built together last summer. We designed it ourselves based off of another coop I saw online, and we built it piece by piece on my days off. I'll let him blog about that whole process and will just focus on one component I built just today.
It's a gravity chicken feeder made entirely from PVC pipe!
Parts list: 3" PVC pipe, wye connector, end cap, female adaptor, threaded drain plug and pipe hanger mount.
Total cost: $19
First, I cut a 6" section of pipe off the large section with the chop saw. I then connected the 6" pipe to the bottom of the wye connector and placed the end cap on the bottom. The large section of pipe fits into the top of the wye connector. The elbow of the connector is the actual feed trough.
I filled the entire pipe with feed, and as the chickens eat it the reserve feed empties out into the trough.
They got the hang of it right away, and even lined up to take turns at the trough! Here, Marla is eating while Dottie and Kit look on.
Marla is a Buff Orpington and is in charge and quite bossy! She is also pretty friendly and good with the boys.
Kit, a Golden Laced Wyandotte, is definitely lowest in the pecking order of all three, and she waits until everyone has eaten to take her share.
Two chickens can eat at the same time, but it gets a little crowded.
This is the female adaptor and the threaded plug connected to the top of the pipe for a convenient closing mechanism. The threaded plug screws in and out to make adding more feed easy, and keeps out snow and rain.
"This is our daughter Dottie."
"This is our other daughter...Dottie's sister!" (Kit)
This gravity feeder keeps food available at all times and prevents the chickens from throwing it all over and letting it go to waste. Before I made the feeder, these ladies would dump over their food trough and then stand on top of it, bawking loudly and refusing to eat what was spilled. Sorry girls...those days are over!
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