DIY chicken feeder - 90° PVC, 5gal bucket

[QuirkyGoddess]

Here's my question: How big does a hole need to be for a chicken to stick its head into?? I LOVE diy chicken stuff. (As long as its not MORE complicated or inconvenient.)
I settled on a 90° pvc pipe into a bucket of feeder....BUT a 2" pvc is all i could do. (My biggest drill bit is two inches, the available pvc is two inches..) Do i need a larger/ 3" pvc piece eventually?
I have welsumer, sapphire gem and Americana breeds. They are ten weeks, so they have some growing yet. I leave for vacation soon for the first time since chicks and this is just one more thing to be anxious over.

 

[SimplyLivinthatFarmLife]

I hope you get some good advice on this as I'm always looking to improve the way I do things here. This would mean less work for my neighbor when we vacation.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Big enough for their combs it fit thru.

 

[blackdog043]

Yes, a 3 inch elbow is what you really need. 2 inch will end up being to small and they may hit/ damage their combs by rubbing against the pvc, when they stick their head inside.
Do you have a horizontal nipple waterer? (clean water 24/7)
I have 2 DIY feeders and 2 horizontal nipple waterers for my 19 chickens. I go away for 8 days and don't have anyone looking after them. Even if you have someone looking after them, you can be sure they will have food and water, depending on how many chickens vs feeders and waterers you have.

 

[Pork Pie]

Welcome to BYC - you have some great advice already so I'll just say hello!
All the best

Pork Pie

 

[QuirkyGoddess]

OK, so it sounds like I'll eventually get a 3" in my feeder. I DO have vertical water nipples!
Two each in two five gallon buckets. And i recently put one on cinder blocks instead of handing, and its golden!
I am experimenting with hanging the food bucket to see if it would help keep pests out. I see the occasional scurry of a single mouse and would rather prevent problems than fight them.
I haven't found a feeder system I'm in love with (that solved most problems) yet.

 

[Zinjifrah]

I use 2 inch, but I've got Seramas, Sebrights, and EE's - the EE's are LF, but they have pea combs, so that's not an issue. I anticipate needing to make a 3 inch feeder as well. When I made the 2 inch feeder, I didn't expect to end up with any LF, but now I've got some barnyard mix chicks growing up that are likely to mostly have single comb - so I'll need something larger. I figure having two feed buckets is a good idea, anyway, to have feeding stations in different places. The 2 inch works great for my Seramas - who would otherwise climb inside and dig all the food out.