I got the (orange*) "Chicken Feeder No Waste Automatic Poultry Feeder 12 Ports Kit 6 Chicken Feeders and 6 Water'r Set for $13.99 @ Amazon" And installed them in two old plastic buckets.
Set them up on blocks and the hens went right at it as if they'd ordered the things on the Coop Shopping Network. A bit leery of the cheap plastic 'cups' sticking out midst fifteen thirsty hens that don't care about infrastructure 'till its gone. But the cost was little and the potential utility great, so I just crossed me fingers.
But the parts fit together like they were meant to be - the holes (drilled with the included bit) were a gasket wider than snug so I've no idea why the gasket was included with the feeder parts. The bit included for the drinking cups was such a perfectly snug fit that I might not have needed the included gaskets to prevent leaking. I used them regardless and it's working fine.
I did have one issue., I hadn't saved the lids for all the plastic pails I've collected over the years - saved the one on the 6G water'r and it screws on tight. Perfect for the water'r. But couldn't find an old lid for the feeder bucket and had to resort to DIY and scrap materials.
The idea was to cut a groove in a square piece of half-inch plywood that the lip of the plastic bucket might fit neatly into, then cut the excess corners away leaving a groovy flat disk that fit the bucket better than OJ's glove.
For this I needed to attach my trim router to one end of a two foot x four inch x 1/4" scrap of plastic roughly based upon a video of a fancier version:
and that was a project in and of itself.
Once the router trammel was complete, I cut (routed out) the groove and used the trammel to route an another 'groove' as deep as the plywood panel itself - effectively cutting out the lid with the lip.
It fit nicely, but, unlike the tops that come with these buckets of this, that or the other, my lid did not 'lock' in place and might easily be dislodged midst some altercation between members of the flock attempting to enforce a pecking order or to procreate.
Racking my brain (a rather rapid process given the limited cranial dimensions) I came up with a way to employ the bucket's intact wire handle as a locking device no Jersey Giant might rend asunder - see if you like it!
But the parts fit together like they were meant to be - the holes (drilled with the included bit) were a gasket wider than snug so I've no idea why the gasket was included with the feeder parts. The bit included for the drinking cups was such a perfectly snug fit that I might not have needed the included gaskets to prevent leaking. I used them regardless and it's working fine.
For this I needed to attach my trim router to one end of a two foot x four inch x 1/4" scrap of plastic roughly based upon a video of a fancier version:
Once the router trammel was complete, I cut (routed out) the groove and used the trammel to route an another 'groove' as deep as the plywood panel itself - effectively cutting out the lid with the lip.
It fit nicely, but, unlike the tops that come with these buckets of this, that or the other, my lid did not 'lock' in place and might easily be dislodged midst some altercation between members of the flock attempting to enforce a pecking order or to procreate.
Racking my brain (a rather rapid process given the limited cranial dimensions) I came up with a way to employ the bucket's intact wire handle as a locking device no Jersey Giant might rend asunder - see if you like it!
