DIY No Waste Quail Feeder

[mdees88]

Here's a couple pics to show you just how good these feeders work.

I went outside the other day to check on my quail and I saw this....

A HUGE pile of feed on the ground. They knocked that much feed out in just a few days time. I thought to myself how did this happen. Well it turns out I forget to add the short piece of 2" pvc to the reducer. This feeder just fills to the top and they knock all the food out.

Here's a pic under my other cage with a feeder that has the 2" pvc pipe installed....

No feed on the ground. That short piece of 2" pipe keeps a very low level of food in the feeder and really does keep them from knocking it out....

 

[philipmadamson]

The red plastic feeder is around $7 I think. The 4" to 2" reducer is around $7.

You need a short piece of 2" pipe and a long piece of 4" pipe (if you want to increase the capacity). A 2"x10ft pvc pipe is $8. A 4"x10 pipe is $22 (but you could make 5 feeders with this much pipe)

Also if you want the pipe to stick out the front of the cage instead of the top of the cage you need a 45 degree 4" street elbow $7.

So for me to make just one feeder it would cost me $50. But if I make 5 it costs me $27 per feeder.

They do sell 2ft long pvc pipes instead of 10fters. So if you only need 1 feeder you might could build it for $35-40 instead of $50.

Thanks!

 

[aart]

@mdees88 What is small hole in red base for?

 

[Vaporus]

I use a PVC 2" to 1 1/2" reducer that fits inside the 4" to 2" reducer those cost like $1 and i don't have to cut any 2" pipe. I would guess the hole is to screw the feeder to the round wood base.

 

[mdees88]

@mdees88 What is small hole in red base for?

Sorry for the late response. Yes, as @Vaporus said... the hole is where I screwed the red feeder to the round wooden base to elevate it up higher so they can't poop in it. These feeders have worked out great and are well worth expense. They literally pay for themselves in a relatively short amount of time. I took a break from the quail but have 120 in the incubator now so won't be long before they're back in use....

 

[mdees88]

Took a year off from the quail and just got started back up. My quail have been outside for about 4 days now and just noticed something..... same as last time. I looked under one of my cages and there was a huge pile of feed on the ground.

Well one feeder came out of the brooder and I removed the short 2" piece of PVC and forgot to put it back in.

Here's the feeder and a pile of feed on the ground (notice the red portion is filled completely with feed). It fills to the top and they knock a bunch out while eating.

Here's the same type feeder in my other cage with short 2" PVC piece installed. Notice the low level of feed maintained in the red part. There's not a single piece of feed on the ground......

Another benefit I never mentioned before is the compact size of the feeders. The only other real good design I've seen is where you use 5 gallon buckets or tupper ware containers with the 90 degree elbows in them. They don't waste food but they have a pretty large footprint and take a lot more floorspace. With this design, the feeder holds weeks worth of food while taking up minimal floorspace.

The feeders are a little bit pricey but they will definitely pay for themselves over time....

 

[Nabiki]

I'm cheap and lazy. I make a tube out of cardboard and a bit of tape that does the same thing. It really does reduce the amount of waste.

 

[mdees88]

I'm cheap and lazy. I make a tube out of cardboard and a bit of tape that does the same thing. It really does reduce the amount of waste.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

It got me thinking on how to increase capacity cheaper than 4" PVC. You could probably use some kind of thin flexible plastic, like the very thin cutting board or those plastic folders. You could roll it up, stick it in the hole, and set it at the proper height.

It wouldn't have the same capacity but would be uch cheaper than using PVC. You would just need to make sure to attach it to the feeder base very well so it couldn't accidentally slide down and block off the feeder flow completely.

Actually the aluminum flashing I bought to keep raccoons from climbing my cage legs would work great I think. As long as you don't need it to make a 45 degree turn and come out the side of the cage..... roll it up, drop it in the hole, raise it up to ten proper height and screw it to the base, maybe add a couple self tapping screws or duct tape going up to the top of it doesn't try and unravel.....

 

[Shannon Robinson50]

we are planning on using an old paws and claws(tsc) cat litter rectangle plastic bucket with pvc pipe inserts with a diagonal cut on the inside with longest point orientated on top inside the container, using 1&1/2 inch pipe. Holes only on long sides about 2 inches or so from bottom of container. This way there are separated eating areas and it can sit on edge on the pen. We will repot back if it works or not.

 

[mdees88]

we are planning on using an old paws and claws(tsc) cat litter rectangle plastic bucket with pvc pipe inserts with a diagonal cut on the inside with longest point orientated on top inside the container, using 1&1/2 inch pipe. Holes only on long sides about 2 inches or so from bottom of container. This way there are separated eating areas and it can sit on edge on the pen. We will repot back if it works or not.

Cool, let us know if it works and post some pics. I'm still using 4 of these feeders and they are working great. A full feeder lasts me almost a week but I usually top them off every 2 or 3 days. They do spill a very small amount of food out but it's so little I don't even care.

One of the most important steps is raising it up as high as possible so they have to reach over and in to eat. If it's down low or sitting flat on the cage floor some of the quail stick their head down it it and throw the food left and right causing it to fall out the holes on either side of them. Like in this pic I posted previously, this feeder should be about 3 times as high as it is (and it should have the short 2" pvc pipe installed that I forgot).

The only issue I've had is when it's raining during a strong wind some water will get in the pipe (because I don't use lids/caps on top). This has caused the food to get wet, then hard which will plug up the pipe and cause them to run out of feed sooner then expected. Then I run a rod down the pipe to break up the feed or pull out the clumps. This usually only happens 2 or 3 times a year and using a cap over the pvc would solve it.