Free Chicken Feeder from Repurposed Milk Bottle

What you need to make the free chicken feeder:

• One clean three litre plastic milk bottle
• A sharp pointy knife
• A pair of scissors
• A white board marker or something similar
• About one metre or more of wire – according to your requirements – you might even be able to get away with using an old wire coat hanger
• A pair of pliers

Using the white board marker draw the cut line for the opening on each side.  Make sure there will be plenty of room for the chookss to put their head in without feeling claustrophobic and having to worry that they can’t see approaching prey or an unpleasant peck from one of their flock.  Don’t cut it too low or there won’t it won’t be deep enough to hold enough seed.  Mine is fairly shallow but I only have three bantams that don’t eat much.  If you have regular sized chooks or more bantams you will want to have a deeper feeder and therefore a higher top on the access hole.
Start the cut with the sharp knife using the point.  Then use the scissors to follow the line around until you have cut out and made the access hole. You could just use the knife to cut the whole lot but I found the scissors made it easier to get a fairly neat shape as it gave more control. Repeat on the opposite side.
Using the knife put some small drainage holes in the bottom. Although the grain needs to be changed if it gets wet as mouldy grain is toxic it won’t hurt if it is wet just for one day but you don’t want it sitting in water.  The top of the milk bottle will keep it fairly dry during light showers.
Just below the bottom of the lid put a small hole either side for the wire loop.  Thread the wire through the holes and twist it into a circular loop.  Cut off the excess with the pliers and bend down any protruding pieces so the chooks cannot injure themselves on it.

Bend about ten centimetres or so of one end of the remaining wire over at the end and twist it so there is no protruding wire.  Then bend the double piece into a hook shape.  Repeat at the other end after you know how long it has to be to keep the feeder off the ground within feeding reach.
Thread the hook through the wire roof and then slip the ringed feeder over the bottom hook.  Fill feeder and watch the flock explore the new contraption. I have one in the moveable ark and one in the night pen.

sources:
https://www.facebook.com/SurvivalGearup?ref=hl#!/pages/The-chicken-coop/223837250974228
http://organicgardening.inmysanctuary.net/wordpress/2012/08/free-chicken-feeder-from-repurposed-milk-bottle/




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