Need ideas to build cheap outdoor feeder and water shelter

[OrchidDragon]

Does anyone have pictures or ideas for an outdoor shelter for chicken feeder and waterer? Mine are made out of 5 gallon buckets that need to hang of the ground under a shelter to keep them out of the sun and rain. My chickens are free ranging in a fenced in yard until I can attach a run to their coop. (They do have food and water inside the coop but I like a second station outside.) Eventually, I will put this shelter inside the chicken run near the gate so I can refill them, but this part of the run will not have a roof. I have scraps of plywood, 2x4, roof singles, etc.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Rodents will eat your feed at night unless locked up. I would make a closeable box with plywood (closing door to the front) so you can close it up but they can walk in there during the day to eat.

Something like a shipping crate would work. Make sure you prop the door open so the wind doesn't blow it shut if you build it.

 

[farmgirlroots]

I would suggest a simple A frame type shelter, small, raised up on posts. That's what we use for our food and water station and it works great! Large hooks mounted underneath allow me to hang the water, etc and it is easy to move if need be. Ours is roofed too as we originally weren't going to have a covered run but did so last minute. Let me see if I have a picture to post...

 

[OrchidDragon]

If the buckets were raised high enough, would that deter rodents from being able to reach the food/water? I also have a good mouser cat and have not had a rodent problem for years.

 

[farmgirlroots]

Here is ours that I was speaking of. It is actually part of a plat structure tower I revamped to use, which is why it is decorative on the sides. In my renovation of it I made the roofline on the front higher than the back so I could get in there easily. I just used 2x4 boards as legs also so I can get in to change water and such without twisting myself into a pretzel.

 

[OrchidDragon]

Rodents will eat your feed at night unless locked up. I would make a closeable box with plywood (closing door to the front) so you can close it up but they can walk in there during the day to eat.

Something like a shipping crate would work. Make sure you prop the door open so the wind doesn't blow it shut if you build it.

That is a good point. However, it would need to be light weight enough to move if I needed to. I could make the sides and door with mesh wire and just leave it open during the day so the chickens could eat and drink.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

You can setup a treadle feeder outside but it will need to be covered and will only keep out small rodents. I built one with parts and wood I had laying around and it worked great. If you are not using plans, you just need to play with the step a bit to get the best leverage.

 

[jetdog]

5gallon bucket with 2 3inch 90 degree elbows, you could use 4 if you want to, cut the elbow so it is about 3/4 of an inch off the bottom of the bucket, I put silicone around the elbows to make sure no water gets in, this works great for my 4 hens it holds 4 weeks of food and is water proof, no poop no waste because they can't fling the food out so it doesn't attract rodents.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote: Only 1/2 inch hardware cloth will keep out rodents.

 

[OrchidDragon]

5gallon bucket with 2 3inch 90 degree elbows, you could use 4 if you want to, cut the elbow so it is about 3/4 of an inch off the bottom of the bucket, I put silicone around the elbows to make sure no water gets in, this works great for my 4 hens it holds 4 weeks of food and is water proof, no poop no waste because they can't fling the food out so it doesn't attract rodents.

I saw a similar one made by a bloke in Australia on YouTube

. I was impressed that the chicken could not scatter food on the ground because it ate with her head all the way in the pipe.