Designing and 3D printing feeders & accessories

[DonyaQuick]

I just got a PLA filament printer and have started designing and making things I've wished I had for my chickens - specifically feeder-related things where I've found a distinct lack of simultaneous weather protection and compatibility with mature, standard-size roosters. I realize a lot of people do covered feeding stations to protect from weather but I haven't had a lot of luck with that (it turns into a roosting and pooping station). I thought I'd start a thread to share how things go as I try different designs with my various chickens.

This is my first design in action: a rooster-friendly grit holder with some weather protection to help keep out the torrential rains my area gets. Although you can't see it from the photo of the actual print, there are also small drainage holes in case something like snow/sleet manages to float around the edges and get in anyway and melt later. The only thing I wished I'd done differently with this one is to print it in white or clear since the solid gray PLA makes the contents dark. Fortunately Mr. Tengu here doesn't care about it being dark, but I have other chickens that would, so any subsequent prints I do of this design will be white/clear. Despite being dark, this grit holder has so far been a big improvement from just tossing the grit on the ground, in a bowl, or in the feed to be scattered and largly disappear and leave me not knowing if any is left. This should work well for my hens' oyster shell too.

Next thing I'm working on is roo-friendly port feeders to pop onto an existing bin of some sort. I loved using port feeders for my hens way back before I had any roos, but the abundantly available ones are too small for my roos. DIY PVC pipe options I've looked into didn't really do what I wanted either. My first prototype is printing right now so I'll get to see soon if I can actually get the balance of features I'm after or if I'll just have another thing that enables my birds to make a huge mess LOL.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Well I don't know what exactly I expected using clear PLA but it sure wasn't pinstripe patterns LOL. In hindsight it makes sense that the infill would cause a pattern since the walls are partly hollow, just didn't realize the internal beams would show up so strongly. Not necessarily a bad thing; lets light through while being easy to see the edges (so not "too" clear to the point a bird might bonk its head, etc). Now I just need to go get an appropriately sized container to slap this on for a test run with feed...

Maybe white filament would be the better choice in the future from an aesthetic standpoint while still being brighter inside...oh well. For now I'll be sticking with clear for feeder parts since I've got a lot of that filament to use up and I'm currently more interested in function than appearance.

I will also need to design some small, weather-protected vents for the top of the container to be placed above the feed level (and therefore above the ports). One of the issues with port feeders in my climate is that if the top of the container above the feed level is sealed up too well, it can get sudden condensation in the top area in the morning. That water will then hang around all day if the lid isn't opened instead of evaporating with the rest of the morning dew.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Oo yes, clear is the way to go for the grit holder design. Look how much brighter this one is inside. With light let through the back, Mr Squeak has a much better view of his grit, as do I, making it easier to tell when it's empty/dirty/etc. I think Mr Tengu may be jealous. I guess I'll upgrade his to a clear one too at some point.

Meanwhile, on the feeder port front, I got a suitable test container...and then glued my fingers to my fingers and to about everything else in the surrounding environment but somehow couldn't get the port glued together properly so that's going to take some work I guess.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

I just got a PLA filament printer and have started designing and making things I've wished I had for my chickens - specifically feeder-related things where I've found a distinct lack of simultaneous weather protection and compatibility with mature, standard-size roosters. I realize a lot of people do covered feeding stations to protect from weather but I haven't had a lot of luck with that (it turns into a roosting and pooping station). I thought I'd start a thread to share how things go as I try different designs with my various chickens.

This is my first design in action: a rooster-friendly grit holder with some weather protection to help keep out the torrential rains my area gets. Although you can't see it from the photo of the actual print, there are also small drainage holes in case something like snow/sleet manages to float around the edges and get in anyway and melt later. The only thing I wished I'd done differently with this one is to print it in white or clear since the solid gray PLA makes the contents dark. Fortunately Mr. Tengu here doesn't care about it being dark, but I have other chickens that would, so any subsequent prints I do of this design will be white/clear. Despite being dark, this grit holder has so far been a big improvement from just tossing the grit on the ground, in a bowl, or in the feed to be scattered and largly disappear and leave me not knowing if any is left. This should work well for my hens' oyster shell too.

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Next thing I'm working on is roo-friendly port feeders to pop onto an existing bin of some sort. I loved using port feeders for my hens way back before I had any roos, but the abundantly available ones are too small for my roos. DIY PVC pipe options I've looked into didn't really do what I wanted either. My first prototype is printing right now so I'll get to see soon if I can actually get the balance of features I'm after or if I'll just have another thing that enables my birds to make a huge mess LOL.

that looks great!

 

[Al Gerhart]

I love the idea of innovation and this seems great for oyster shell or water, but a plastic feeder would just get chewed up if you tried adding any sort of door. Why go to the trouble of making a rat buffet?

 

[DonyaQuick]

So I have learned that CA gel actually seems to work quite well on PLA just like I read in many places...it just requires significantly more patience than I demonstrated yesterday before noodling with things. If you leave it alone and wait overnight, you have a working product and do not glue yourself to everything.

but a plastic feeder would just get chewed up if you tried adding any sort of door. Why go to the trouble of making a rat buffet?

I haven't had any significant issues with rodents getting into my feed or runs in general. They're all behind 1/2in HWC (including 2ft skirts of same material). For a brief time I did have to put a feeder within a larger-spaced mesh kennel type thing (1-2" gaps I think), and oh yes stuff started getting into that right away - although mostly eating the riddiculous mess the chickens shoveled out onto the ground rather than going into the feeder itself. However, behind the 1/2in HWC, the worst I've had to deal with is the occasional very young mouse or shrew that can slip through that and, well...they tend to be rather poor at finding their way back out in time before the auto door opens. Mold from on-the-ground feed getting wet in crazy storms has been a much bigger issue for me than rodents.

I'm using open-top, bucket-like feeders for all my birds right now because of my big roosters' big fat faces having issues with all the other more-mess-proof things I've purchased. They will seemingly starve rather than boop the front of their combs on something. So, it's mostly the waste and mess factor of chickens literally digging in their food and grit that I'm trying to stop. If I only had modestly sized hens with modest combs, I'd still be using those 3" port feeders attachments you can get just about anywhere and put onto pretty arbitrary tupperware type things.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Interesting, and great use of the 3D printer. What size stage do you have for printing?
I’d like to learn more about the PLA properties.
Does the PLA necessarily need to be food safe if it isn’t in direct contact with food or water? What about oyster shell? Does the material flex much in heat or become brittle in extreme cold? How does sunlight impact the tensile strength of PLA? Thanks!!

 

[DonyaQuick]

What size stage do you have for printing?

I'm using a roughly 12"x12" bed and I think the max height is a bit over 15". It's a Kobra 2 Plus.

Does the PLA necessarily need to be food safe if it isn’t in direct contact with food or water?

If it won't contact something the chicken eats and won't potentially have a chicken beak nibbling at it, then food safety will be a lot less important. But even something like a roost I'd want to be safe for a chicken to taste.

What about oyster shell?

For holding oyster shell I'd still want something food safe because of chickens potentially nibbling the material and the risk of water getting in somehow - the water issue is actually even more of an issue with oyster shell than granite grit. Calcium carbonate can kind of act like a sponge, so if something gets wet, leaches chemicals, and then that water touches the CaCO3, anything that leached out would very likely go straight into the rock/shell and then get consumed by the chicken.

Does the material flex much in heat or become brittle in extreme cold?

I'm not sure about heat tolerance. I do know you can't stick it in a dishwasher with something like heated drying or it will warp. You can use a heat gun to shape PLA, so I'm not sure how well it would hold up in a really hot area, particullarly if it was in direct sunlight in the heat for a long time.

How does sunlight impact the tensile strength of PLA?

Like most plastics it will get degraded over time and become more fragile. As for how fast, I'm not sure and will just have to find that out as I go.

I've read PETG can be better for outdoor usage and UV resilience, and is also a food safe material. I'm just not sure about the VOCs during the melting/reforming process and also not sure about how much trickier it is to use vs PLA. It might be one of those things where you really need a fume case over the printer and an extractor fan out to a window (vs just an open window and uncovered printer I'm doing). I will probably give PETG a try at some point down the line but will definitely be doing it with a VOC meter in the room.

 

[Loving my girls]

I know virtually nothing about 3D printers but you seem to have cornered a niche in the market.
Go for it and we will soon see you rubbing shoulders with Elon Musk

 

[casportpony]

@Nifty-Chicken & @BantyChooks, check this out!