Jun 09

Treadle Feeder

Our chickens outgrew their chick feeder – we have had to refill it daily, and that is too often. Since we needed something bigger, and something that could stay outdoors, I started looking around for ideas.

I found some plans for a treadle feeder and there are many videos of the thing in action.

I didn’t want to build it out of wood only to have it rot away, so I took a stab at building it out of sheet metal. I made plenty of mistakes, but the result looks pretty good for my first sheet metal project. More importantly, the mechanism seems to work fine. With a 6 ounce counterweight in the lid, it takes 1.75 pounds on the treadle to open it.

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I added some grip tape to the treadle after fine-tuning the mechanism, so the ladies can maintain their footing… To help train them in on it, I’ve got a trusty, rusty piece of iron holding the door open. Later, I will partially prop the door open, but make them step on the treadle to open it the rest of the way.

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May 12

Wallet Diet

My wallet was getting Costanza-like, and it was getting a little shabby, so I got a new, slimmer model.

Before:
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After:
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May 03

Roosts and Chicken Nipples

Chickens want to roost… I didn’t build any into the chicken tractor. I was negligent. So I took care of that. I turned a left over 2×2 into a roost for under the coop, and I turned a 1″ piece of PVC into an indoor roost.

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I also got some chicken nipples in, so I could convert a bucket into a huge waterer. I had done some ceiling texturing, so I had a bucket from that.

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