#ON TIME GRAVITY FEEDER HOW TO#

That way, bugs and worms will survive in the moist soil and be a food source for the hens. We like having a run that’s open to the weather. The three challenges with gravity feeders are: 1) the hazard of rain ruining the feed, 2) the hens’ tendency to get on top of the feeder and poop on their feed, and 3) the hens’ tendency to scratch debris into the saucer, blocking their access to the feed. Who needs robots when you’ve got gravity? Gravity Feeder Challenges So the saucer refills automatically until the tube is empty. As the chickens eat the feed from the saucer, gravity pulls more feed from the tube. Gravity feeders are basically a metal tube mounted over a metal saucer. I keep the remainder of the bag in a small, watertight and vermin-proof galvanized garbage can next to the coop.Ī view of our gravity feeder from the run. It’s big enough to hold 25 pounds of feed. We use a vintage galvanized gravity feeder we bought for $5 at a junk-tique shop. If you have more chickens or will be away longer, then you’ll need to set up additional feeders. A common gravity feeder holds half of a 50-pound bag of feed, which will cover your trip with a little left over for insurance. For a two-week vacation that adds up to about 21 pounds. So in a day, all six might eat 1.5 pounds of feed. Three are just passing the prime of their egg-laying lives and the other three are just starting to lay. We have six hens on our urban, backyard, permaculture plantation: two Buff Orpingtons, an Easter Egger, a Dominique, a Marans, and a Golden-Laced Wyandotte. But a 1/4 pound per day, per bird is a good annual average for figuring out how much feed is needed to supply your birds. So the amount of feed will vary, even from year to year. As they get older, they lay fewer eggs and, as a result, need fewer calories. The colder it is, the more they eat to keep their body temperature up. Of course, this varies with their age, activity level, number of eggs they’re laying, amount of free-ranging, and seasonal temperatures. Laying hens need to eat about 1/4 pound of feed every day, or almost 2 pounds per week. Gravity Feeders as Food Drawers How Much Do They Really Eat? Or even if you’re not away, you aren’t on chicken cafeteria duty every time you turn around. Let me share with you two ways to remove all worries while you’re on vacation. We worry about the food staying dry, supplying enough food for the entirety of our trip, and being able to top it off when we get back. But there are concerns about whether they have enough food when we’re on vacation. I especially like chickens when I can go on vacation for two weeks without worrying about them. I enjoy having chickens as long as I don’t feel like I’m working for them.

#ON TIME GRAVITY FEEDER HOW TO#

Frank Hyman humorously shows us how to make two different types of DIY poultry feeders that are inexpensive and efficient.

On time gravity feeder