Feeding Equipment

[FarmerChick]

Curious what you use to feed your animals.

Do you make your own mineral feeder holders?
Did you make your own chicken and pasture animal feeders?
Make your own hay feeders?
What about water? Do you buy those fancy type waterers for chickens or just use a bowl or bucket in the coops?


Do you reuse and recycle things to make into feeders?

Do you have pics of any wild feeder you have built that you are proud of and have worked wonderful for you?

Did you build nest boxes or buy them?


Just wondering if ya'll scavenge like me to feed your animals and what efforts you went to for creating your ideal feeding stations.

Wondering if I can grab some good ideas from everyone out there.
You never know cause if we chat about it...all of the sudden something new hits me and I move forward with a new project-LOL

 

[TTs Chicks]

The chickens have plastic dispans that I got at the dollar tree for water pans. One pen has an old plastic hanging chicken feeder I got from my Dad, one has an old rabbit feeder that I had laying around and the 3rd pen has a wooden feeder that I put together in just a few minutes one weekend (that will hold extra food so they won't run out)

I reuse anything I can - my parents even use old hubcaps as food bowls for some of their animals

 

[fancie217]

....Sorry question......

Is there any table scrape type foods you can feed to chickens, ducks and geese to supplement their diet???? Thanks.

.....answer......
I use a mix of store bought feeders and old tupperware type containers. The store bought ones actually seem to be more work.

 

[Beekissed]

I constructed chicken feeders from PVC pipe and plastic buckets~ala BYC~ and they tended to cake and needed shook down alot in humid weather.

I also made a waterer from a plastic bucket and a flower pot tray that was wonderful, but you had to get that seal on just right or the water would drain out, and the biggest pot tray I could find wasn't nearly big enough.

So...in the end I am back to using my old galvanized trough feeder wrapped in welded wire, to prevent flicking and scratching out of the feed. It can hold 4 days worth of feed if I have to go on a trip and I have no wasted feed whatsoever.

I am also, temporarily using a galvanized waterer, which I hate because you can't add ACV to the water and its just a pain to fill.

I will be building a wooden feeder with stanchions in my sheep pen, so I can concentrate most of their manure in one place for the winter~to put on my garden. The wooden box feeder will be built so the sheep have to reach down and in to get the hay, so I'm hoping this will prevent so much pulling out and losing it on the ground. Also, the stanchions will help me work with the sheep by myself for any medical treatments, shots, etc.

As for the minerals? I know I will definitely be building my own, portable, mineral feeder but I haven't decided what recycled item that I will use for it!

 

[Wifezilla]

I am using my old baking pans for grit, egg shells, etc. Since I went low carb, I wasn't using them anymore anyhow

 

[enjoy the ride]

I'm sure that you don't really mean this but I use a 3x3 ft cube with a slot cut into it to feed the horses. Virtually no waste at all. I did this when I had a horse who, when fed a flake of hay, would fling it across the paddock, into the mud, then step all over it so most wasn't edible. In the box, he could root through the hay for the good parts without losing any.
So all my horses since then are fed this way- all have done OK with it. Although if they get really bored, they have been known to roll it around in the middle of the night.

 

[patandchickens]

All my chicken feeders are homemade out of whatever was lying around in the way of buckets, pans etc. I like them just fine, they work well, and making them entertains me Grit and oystershell are mostly in small plastic yogurt tubs etc wired to the walls. I don't make waterers though as I consider it VERY important to avoid SPLOOOOSH accidents

Horses have store-boughten Fortex tubs for when they get grain (actually 2 of them are used, from auction). And store-boughten water tub (plus 2 heated ones for winter). Other than that, they just eat off the ground - I put their hay on clean snow or clean dead-grass or a clean part of the shed. On clean ground, out of the wind, I actually have next to no waste this way (and don't want to use a feeder since one of the horses has heaves). Their saltblock just sits on the ground back in the shed where it won't get rained on (which is gravelled and fairly tidy).

Pat

 

[me&thegals]

....Sorry question......

Is there any table scrape type foods you can feed to chickens, ducks and geese to supplement their diet???? Thanks.

.....answer......
I use a mix of store bought feeders and old tupperware type containers. The store bought ones actually seem to be more work.

I'm no expert, but our chickens for 1 1/2 years have been getting all our table scraps. The things they are supposedly not to eat (potatoes, citrus), then don't eat anyway. All of it composts into their bedding and poo. Doing this, we've only lost about 30% to inexplicable deaths. Hah! JK!!!

 

[freemotion]

I use a mix of homemade and bought feeders. I use a 2 gallon Fortex bucket for my chicken and goat water in winter, and in the warmer weather I use a rubber ground feeder for water...that one is a lifetime investment! When I had the horse, too, I got a "giant" rubber ground feeder/water tub for $20 since it was on an upper shelf for years, forgotten at the feed store, and all dusty. That is fantastic for water for all the critters and needed refilling every two days. I like the rubber because it is safe and indestructable, even if a foal accidently goes for a swim! Now it is in the garage with the day's firewood nicely contained.

My hay rack is homemade, I made it from scavenged wood scraps, it looks so professional! It is for the goats. The horse ate hay off the ground, and I always shook out her flakes so she wouldn't toss them around.

The chickens have a hanging feeder that my dad made from a five-gallon bucket (salvaged) that works great! I made my nest boxes myself.

I also use those two-compartment mineral feeders made of plastic from TSC for chicken grit and oyster shell, and one for the goats minerals and salt and baking soda, and another one mounted high on the wall for free-choice alfalfa pellets for the skinny goat that my obese pygmies can't quite reach. I put a board on the wall so she can put her front feet on it and easily eat the pellets. I did the same with the hayrack so she can get the really good hay, and the little fluffy goats get their hay on the ground.....but this winter I accidently discovered something great. I have two xmas trees against the east side of the barn where they go out in the morning to warm up in the sun before I get out there to feed them. They've taken a lot of the needles and tips off, so now I tuck the hay in between the branches and it is like a hayrack. It keeps the hay from blowing away or getting trampled and I can "fill" it at night so they will have some early hay and I can sleep in a bit! Yeah!

I admit that I do like store bought feeders because they are very cleanable. But I do not bother with the standard chicken waterers, except for chicks, as they are a pain in the patootie. A bucket works just fine.

 

[FarmerChick]

I started farming with all bought equipment. Pricey. BUT then I switched to saving money, reuse, etc. and built my own.

I made a combo top hay feeder/grain feeder for my horses. Built out of wood with rebar sections for hay storage. They came out great...Dad helped. I will post a pic of one of them. Super simple to make.

I do have many rubber feeding bowls for goats, dogs, horses, etc.....they seem to last forever. Some I have had over 10 years. So using those until they decinegrate which I doubt they ever will!

I bought fancy mineral feeder contraptions and the best for me with goats (who poop in everything, everywhere) is a PVC J pipe. Just clamp to wall high up and pour in loose minerals and mount high. I have a concrete stepping block they have to go high to lick the minerals. Works fab.

I have a cattle creep feeder. $500 that sucker cost but want to sell it and Tony won't. He said if "we ever need it".

I have alot of big plastic water troughs for cattle, goats, etc.

Automatic waterer for the horses when I had them....now the goats use it. That thing is fab. Best way to spend money is NOT having to chip ice for water in winter. It is heated.

I use only giant plastic chicken waterers. I have too many to use bowls. It wouldn't work for me......those things ain't cheap either! But they last long so that is a plus. Metal galvanized chicken feeders. I have to feed alot and just fill and let them have at it!

Most of the hogs use metal self feeders. I have the monster size for the big pen of hogs....smaller for little pens with less critters. I do separate mommas and they use rubber tubs. Hog waterer also.

Animals go thru lots and lots of water!



Good thing critters don't require fancy fine china for their meals..HA HA