Time

20 minutes

Complexity

Beginner

Cost

Around $30

Introduction

Fresh eggs are divine, but other elements of raising chickens are a bit more of a hassle. Chickens tend to kick and scratch at their feed, scattering it all over the ground. This attracts rodents, smells bad and wastes a lot of food because it inevitably gets mucked up with dirt, chicken poo and mold.

No-waste chicken feeders solve this problem. And, as an added benefit, no-waste chicken feeders also help ensure your chickens have food whenever they want it. All together, that makes for some happy, healthy chickens.

Here is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to make a no-waste chicken feeder.

Bonus: Here's how to build your own chicken coop.

materials for a DIY no waste chicken feederKaruna Eberl for Family Handyman

Tools Required

  • 3 in. hole saw
  • Corded or cordless drill
  • Pencil
  • Tape measure

Materials Required

  • 4 chicken feeder ports
  • 5-gallon bucket with lid
  • Chicken feed
  • Piece of sandpaper

Project step-by-step (4)

Step 1

Mark the bucket for the port holes

  • Turn the bucket upside down on a work table.
  • Measure down the side approximately four inches from the closed end of the bucket, and make a pencil mark on the outer wall (the mark will be on the outside of the bucket, closer to the true bottom of the bucket than to the top).
  • Rotate the bucket 90 degrees and repeat three more times until you have a total of four marks on the bucket.

marking holes on a bucketKaruna Eberl for Family Handyman

Step 2

Drill and clean the holes

drilling holes in bucketKaruna Eberl for Family Handyman

  • Repeat this step until you have drilled four three-inch holes.
  • Smooth away any plastic burrs in the holes with sandpaper.
    • Pro Tip: This makes a lot of tiny plastic debris, so do it where it will be easy to sweep up, so the plastic bits don’t get into the soil.

sanding holes drilled in a bucketKaruna Eberl for Family Handyman

Step 3

Insert the feeder ports into the bucket

Note: There are several brands of chicken feeder ports available. We chose these feeder ports from Dr. DuDu because they have a rain hood over each port, as well as a sliding feed door that controls feeding portions and helps keep rodents and pests out of the feed.

  • Turn the bucket right side up.
  • Insert the first feeder port into the first hole. Make sure that the feeding hole is facing the bottom of the bucket, and the rain hood is on the top. The majority of the port should be inside the bucket.

inserting feeder port into hole in side of bucketKaruna Eberl for Family Handyman

  • Slide the gasket over the portion of the feeder port that is inside the bucket.
  • Hand-tighten the retainer nut onto the inside of the feeder port.

feeder ports from inside bucketKaruna Eberl for Family Handyman

  • Repeat this process until all four feeder ports are installed in the bucket.

top view of inside the bucketKaruna Eberl for Family Handyman

Step 4

Finish it up

  • Wipe the inside of the bucket to make sure all of the plastic debris is gone.
  • Fill the bucket with feed.

Feederstep4 Diy No Waste Chicken Feeder Karuna Eberl For Fhm JveditKaruna Eberl for Family Handyman

  • The feeder will automatically keep the feed level accessible to the chickens as long as you keep it filled higher than the feeding ports.

feed inside the feeder bucketKaruna Eberl for Family Handyman

Author
Karuna Eberl
A writer and indie film producer, Karuna Eberl covers the outdoors and nature side of DIY for Family Handyman, exploring wildlife, green living, travel, gardening and outdoor living, including swimming pools and testing portable power stations. She also writes FH’s Eleven Percent column about dynamic women in the construction workforce. Karuna an...
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Karuna Eberl