
This will greatly reduce your refilling routine because it eliminates the need to take the feed out of the sac with a scoop and transfer it into a feeder.
Duck automatic feeder full#
The best feeders can fit one or more full bags of feed at a time. This is important to know for choosing your feeder size. If you are purchasing your chicken feed in large 50lb bags it works out to a volume of approximately 10 gallons. Or 1100 days for 1 lucky chicken.ĭo the math to figure out an estimate for your own flock and poultry or duck feeder. This will provide 110 days of maintenance-free feeding for 10 birds. (20lbs feeder ÷ 2.5lbs a day = 8 days) Refilling Your Automatic Chicken or Duck FeederĪ 55 gal drum converted into a feeder can hold 275lbs of feed when full. (10 birds x 0.25lbs = 2.5 lbs of food per day.) (Feeder capacity ÷ Food eaten each day = Days your feeder will last)įor example: 10 chickens with a 20 lbs feeder (# birds X daily feed = Food eaten each day) Here is the easy formula to help calculate how long your feeder will last. I would recommend planning to refill it before it runs out to keep your chooks happy and your ducks in a row. Use these numbers to calculate how long your feeder will last before it runs out of food. Conveniently enough, broiler hens or 6-week meat chickens will average slightly under ¼ lbs a day from hatching to butcher weight.ĭucks will eat 1/3lbs -3/8lbs in feed a day. The average laying hen will consume ¼ lb of feed a day. Think about how much feed can it hold, how much floor space will it take, and how many birds it can feed at a time. The size of your automatic poultry feeder should be practical for your space and relative to how much you want to refill it. This style is especially useful for keeping unwanted pests out of your poultry’s feed. You can shop for them on Amazon here. Weight-activated feeders use the bird’s weight to engage a mechanism that opens the feed door. Tube style feeders that use more vertical space to save on coop floor area. You can find ones to buy on Amazon here. You can find at ones to buy on Amazon here. These are beneficial for allowing multiple birds eating at a time as well as movability. This is the type of automatic poultry feeder we tend to use in our coops on the homestead. What to consider for an automatic Chicken or Duck Feeder Feeder types:Ĭommon styles of automatic poultry feeders include the following:īucket feeders have individual holes for the birds to put their heads in. A purchase can help GWR make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Some of the product links in this post are for affiliate products. Let’s take a look at each of these options.

Some things to think about are: Size of feeder, location, size of poultry, size of flock, type of poultry, feed wastage from spill or birds, access for pests, and the refilling process. Regardless of what you pick, it will be better than feeding your birds each day in a bucket. However, there are a number of different styles for making or buying automated feeders.

It is also easy to buy various automatic chicken feeders or duck feeders.

There are Plenty of DIY designs that are simple for even the inexperienced tool wielder to make.
