Looking for experience with pvc feeder

[Rachelz]

I currently have a feeder with ports and the holes at the bottom. The problem is that they compact the feed and clog the holes and can't get food. I gave up, and now just have the top off, which is absurd. I think i want to try the 3" pvc pipe with the j at the bottom. Am I going to get the same issue? Anyone tried this? Interested in success and failure! Pic for tax!

 

[Lulu-vt]

I was searching the forum for ideas on PVC feeders and came across yours. I’m not helpful but wanted to add that my port feeders also get compacted. So annoying. But the chickens are still able to get food, I do have to refill, so I know they are eating it. My biggest issue is that my rooster has really damaged his comb while sticking his head into the port. He has outgrown the port so now I’m looking for something else.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Here is the cold hard, brutal truth.

There is a place for PVC feeders, they are cheap, and until the rodents and wild birds show up they will save some flock owners a lot of money. There are drawbacks, you have mentioned some of them, compaction, injury, fear of a prey species using a feeder. But like Grandpa told me long ago, poor people have poor ways. Do what is needed to get by. I used PVC feeders back in 2011 when I got started until I was overran with rats like an U.S. outpost on the Ho Chi Min trail during the unpleasantness in the sixties and seventies.

Leading to the coldest, hardest, and most brutal truth; if you have chickens, you will pay for a treadle feeder even if you never buy one.

Feed stolen, rodent control, wild bird control, the cost of building a Fort Knox chicken coop and run, disease brought into the flock, time wasted hand feeding, the loss of weight gain or eggs from limited feeding instead of having feed available 24/7, waste from spilled feed, being tied down to hand feeding twice a day instead of living your life....

Or, you spend the $100 to $150 to buy a treadle feeder. Or more if off Amazon, or less if it is one of the many Chinese copies of the Chinese made Grandpa feeders sold off Amazon. Just read the negative reviews first, they tell the story from flock owners that had a rodent or wild bird problem to solve, the five stars are owners with tight coops that just wanted a chicken feeder.

But, you asked about a 3" PVC pipe. Pressure of most things that flow increase with height, not width. The pressure per square inch on a wall of water in a canal that is one foot wide is no more than a canal that is four feet wide. You have more square inches of surface for that pressure to act upon so anyone holding a barrier would figure this out quickly. But, the downward pressure of the feed and the friction of the feed flowing would be less IF you raised the height of that elbow, and there is more room for a rooster to get to the feed, even a 4" pipe would work better. The downsides, further in and down for the chicken to reach to get to the bottom of the elbow to reach the feed, and you are asking a prey species to do this, eat blind.

You have also made a rodent buffet into a better rodent buffet.

But, if you were like me when I started raising chickens, more time than money, I would mock up a 4" pvc pipe on a board or better a bucket, and experiment with the height off the bottom versus feed flow. My gut reaction is the elbow is too large, most hens would be shoulder deep and not able to reach the feed. The feed "might" flow up into the 4" elbow IF there is enough feed overhead, providing enough pressure to overcome the angle of repose and friction of the feed on itself and on the pvc elbow. On an open board, the feed wouldn't be forced up into the elbow, it would compact. How much compaction and bridging would happen, no way of knowing without experimentation.

Can this be overcome with engineering? Yes, of course, reduce the friction by lubricating the feed pellets or adding vibration. On a vibratory feed mechanism or vibratory conveyor a motor spinning an off center load is used. With enough vibration you can pump those pellets right out of the elbow, up, and onto the ground. Now you have spent a fortune on materials and labor or will spend a fortune putting lubricant into your feed and consider the cost of electricity to run the rube goldberg device, what happens when the power is out, or the effect of oil or other lubricants in your feed.

I can tell you what I learned back in 2011 after a lot of experimentation with PVC feeders. I learned to start making treadle feeders. Couldn't afford the Chinese made Grandpa feeder and back then there were no Chinese clones, you spend $250 to solve the problem. I crapped in their cornflakes eventually with a feeder that at the time in 2012 was one fourth, even one fifth of that. They had to lower their prices to compete, I had to raise mine to make a better feeder to be commercially acceptable, and again after the covid material increases/dollar devaluation/inflation, now their feeder is only twice the cost of my feeder. I wish it was less, but welcome to prices in 2025, ain't getting rich selling chicken feeders, but it helps a lot of backyard flock owners.

Holler if you have questions. I love to see people trying new ideas.

 

[jreardon1918]

My PVC feeder doesn't compact. Perhaps that is due to my using pellets. It is also protected from rain and snow. It is 4" at the top and then transitions to 3". The top has a 4" cap. The bottom is a 6" end cap. Hope this helps.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

My PVC feeder doesn't compact. Perhaps that is due to my using pellets. It is also protected from rain and snow. It is 4" at the top and then transitions to 3". The top has a 4" cap. The bottom is a 6" end cap. Hope this helps.

How is the bottom portion constructed? I can't quite tell from the photo.

 

[jreardon1918]

How is the bottom portion constructed? I can't quite tell from the photo.

The verticle tube has a half mooncut out at the bottom. Then I used a couple bolts, nuts and washers to attach. This is the best picture I could get this moring as the feed was just filled last night.

This is not my design. I saw a youtube video years ago showing more details to make it. It does work very well.