Homemade Poultry Feeder

If your strapped for cash or simply don't want to spend a great deal on your poultry feeder here's how I made mine:

This one holds enough pellets for 4 birds for about 3 days feed.

1 old bucket (mine was a poultry manure bucket)
1 12" flower pot
1 off-cut of 2x2 timber cut into a pyramid.
Strong garden wire
Rope
1 2" Screw


Take the flower pot and make four holes along the bottom edge about 1 1/2 " x 1"
Drill four small holes in the top rim of the pot.
Drill a small hole in the middle of the bottom of the pot
Next cut the old bucket down to leave a it about 2" deep lip up from the bottom.
Drill a hole in the middle of the bucket bottom.
Drill a pilot hole into the bottom of your pyramid

Now the fiddly bit

Place the flower pot into the middle of the bucket and put the pyramid into the middle of the flower pot.
Now screw the screw up through the bucket, flower pot and into the pyramid. Nice and tight to sandwich it all together.
There your about done. Make a cross of wire through the holes you made in the flower pot rim.
Tie the rope to the middle of the cross hang at the right height.
And thats it .

Easy to give it a quick clean with a damp cloth.

The one in the photo was made about 4 yrs ago.

The hens will soon learn to give it a bash to make the last few pellets flow.If you find the pellets flow to quick an insert of cardboard can be placed inside the flower pot with smaller holes.

Chitting and Things

Well things are starting to move at last, well time is anyway.
The days are getting longer and spring is on it's inevitable way. Hooray !

The hens have started to grace us with eggs again 4 hens and 4 eggs today, so the talking to must have worked.

Made my first sowing of the year a day or two back, 3 small rows of nantes early carrots and a row of mixed salad leaves.All in the bed of the unheated greenhouse.

I've bought in my seed potato's and have started to chit them probably a little early, but stocks sell fast at our allotment shop. So I thought I'd get in quick and have bought the following:

3kg of Rocket 1st earlies.
3kg of Nadine 2nd earlies
9kg of Romano main crop
9kg of Cara main crop

So I've probably got about 240 ish tubers to plant come the spring.

Chitting is optional some say you get better results, others say you don't.
Personally I chit
The best way to do this is keep them in a light, but cool place and they should produce short stocky chits in about 6 or so weeks.

I like to do mine in them blue plastic crates you can get from the green grocers, quite often you can get them for free if you ask nice.

I've also put in 3 rows of Raspberry canes over the winter, not much to see as they look like rows of sticks at the minute, I also got some raspberry roots off a friend of mine on the allotment forums, there in pots waiting for the spring.

Tips for January and February finish the winter digging if you can and tidy up
I may even take my own advice !