Feeder for chickens is a design, if correctly performed, each bird will be able to get the required feed rate.
Today, stores have a wide selection of feeders, but farmers increasingly prefer to use home-made options.
Feeders from a plastic bottle are quite popular. Let's consider what they should be.
What is it?
When breeding chickens, a well-balanced nutrition of poultry is very important, as well as its timeliness. But it is not always possible to feed the chickens on time, as there is a lot of work in the private sector, and it is difficult to keep track of the feeding time.
To simplify this procedure, you can use homemade feeders. They are filled with food once and then allow for several days not to worry about it. The design of the feeder allows you to spend the feed gradually.
What should be?
To the feeders for chickens have the following requirements:
- Ensuring rational use of feed. The design of the feeder should be designed so that the birds do not have the opportunity to climb into it, scatter the grain and spoil it with their excrement.
To achieve this goal, build protective bumpers, tops and various devices to cover the main mass of food inside the tank for food.
- Easy maintenance. The feeder needs to be filled daily with food, washed and cleaned. The design and material used for the manufacture of feeders should not create difficulties for these procedures for the care of birds.
The feed tank should be lightweight, mobile, easy to wash and disinfect.
- Optimum dimensions. The size and size of the structure should be sufficient to feed the entire population of chickens during the day. In trays on one individual should be 10-15 cm in length. For young animals, this figure is 2 times reduced.With a circular tray arrangement for one bird, 2.5 cm is enough. The approach to the feeder was at the same time in all chickens, so that the weaker were not pushed aside from food.
From bottles: pros and cons
The design for feeding chickens from a plastic bottle has the following advantages:
- Ease of manufacture. The feeder is a container with holes at the bottom, from which chickens come in food.
- Can be used for feeding small chickens.
- Stable round base. Nestlings evenly spaced, do not choke.
- The use of plastic construction is reduced by 20% of the cost of feeding.
The construction has few minuses - it has sharp and uncomfortable edges, and during wind and bad weather it can fall, so they use such a structure indoors.
Options that you can buy
Each farmer has the opportunity to purchase a plastic chicken feeder already in the finished version, referring to the following manufacturers:
- Belgorod plant RHYTHM. In the assortment there is a design, obtained from food grade plastic, which meets the high requirements of sanitation. Consists of a hopper cone-shaped, with a capacity of 10 liters.
The bunker is fixed at the base of the bowl thanks to an adjustable screw pair. Feeder cost 390 rubles.
- LLC TPK Yug-Torg. The manufacturer offers a hopper feeder made of plastic. Used for feeding young and adult birds when kept on the floor or in cages. During feeding, approximately 20-24 adults can be accommodated around the structure.
Due to the simplicity of the design, you can control the availability of food through the translucent body of the glass. The feeding trough consists of:
- pallet;
- covers;
- glasses;
- pens;
- separating grid.
Fixing the glass relative to the pallet will be realized at the expense of hooks. The cost of the product is 460 rubles.
- Agromoltekhnika Sibir Ltd.. The range includes a Leo trough, which serves for chickens raised for slaughter. The design has a central setting of the feed level. This is a real novelty in the field of poultry.
The advantages of it should include:
- minimal feed loss;
- minimal participation of manual labor;
- excellent hygiene conditions for birds.
The cost is 490 rubles.
How to start?
Before you start making troughs, you need to prepare materialsand also ensure that each bird has free access to feed. During feeding, they should not be crowded or interfere with each other.
Materials
In order to make your own feeders from a plastic bottle of 5 liters, you will need the following materials:
- plastic bottle - 5 l;
- a tray (you can buy it in the store with dividers or use some kind of basin, the diameter of the tray should be 20-30 centimeters greater than the diameter of the bottom of the bucket);
- nails;
- scissors.
How to make yourself?
A plastic bottle feeder is the most affordable and easy to manufacture option.. You can do it as follows:
- Select and prepare the container. Use a 5 liter bottle, which has a narrow part (neck) shorter. Take tare, remove dust and other contaminants from it, if any.
- Markup Using a marker, draw holes on the bottle. There will be 5 of them, and the diameter will be 1.5-2 cm. This size is suitable for the young, but for the older birds to make rectangular windows 5x7 cm. This is enough for the chicken to stick its head and peck at the feed. They are located in a circle where the stiffeners begin.
- Run the dispenser. Cut the neck with scissors, set it in the second part of the bottle with holes. Installation is done with the neck down, just not all the way, but leaving a small space (3-5 mm). So that the neck does not "walk", secure it with scotch tape.
- Secure the bottle in the tray with liquid nails.
- Pour into the feed trough compound feed until the tank is full.
- The weight of self-made plastic structures is small. At the same time, their sizes are quite significant. So chickens can easily turn over such a device. To avoid this, it is necessary to fix the structure to the wall through the holes made in the plastic bin.
How to feed?
So the feeder is made. Now, when the chickens want to eat, you just need to scroll the bottle by the neck, so that the tray fills with food. Chickens can come and eat grains. Chickens will smoothly receive food for the whole day, do not push and crush the weaker individuals.
The importance of proper diet
Mostly chickens contain for eggs. To make their number large, it is not enough just to choose a breed with high egg production rates. It is important to properly organize the diet. Breeds that are characterized by a high number of eggs when worn, place high demands on care and feeding.
Chicken age also affects egg production. She begins to carry eggs from the 26th week of life, and the peak productivity comes at 26-49 weeks. With the help of properly selected feed, you can delay the process of reducing the productivity of birds.
To do this, they should have vitamins, proteins and other beneficial substances in their diet. Food should be light, complete and well digested.
To increase egg production rate in the diet should be legumes. So you have to stock up:
- peas;
- lentils;
- beans.
Chickens are not accustomed to such feed, so first they need to be given steamed grains in advance, and then added to regular feed or mixture. It is enough to feed adults 2 times a day, and young animals up to a month - 3-4 times a day.
Plastic feeders for chickens, made by hand, have many advantages, including ease of manufacture and use, low cost.
All the materials necessary for obtaining such a construction will be found in every owner, and even a person who does not have experience can make it up to the person. It is enough to spend only 20-30 minutes of free time, but your chickens will always be full and will thank you with generous egg production.