DIY Animal Troughs

[riaketty]

Have you ever made your own animal troughs? I'm trying to figure out how to make a long, shallow one for chickens and also a larger oval for goats. We're thinking about concrete... any experience? Would sealed/oiled wood work? What about bricks?

Actually thinking about water troughs.

[Wolf mom]

Dunno about goats, but those hanging feeders for chickens keep them from walking all over & pooping in their feed.....Just sayin'. Garden greens & such get thrown in their pen on a large flat rock as it doesn't last too long. .

I love old bath tubs for feeding horses. The hay stays inside & it's a more natural way to feed than those wall hanging feeders. Would the sides be too high for goats?

[wy_white_wolf]

Old water heater cut in half length wise makes a good feeder.

I have also done that with plastic barrels. Cut either length wise or one end off depending on how you want it.

For chickens I did see one that was an old piece of rain gutter mounted on the wall at floor level. The gutter was narrow enough to keep the chickens out and they couldn't stand on the edge of it.

[riaketty]

That gave me an idea, though! Big 55 gal drums cut in half... hmm.

[foxtrapper]

Section of rain gutter works fine for a long chicken feeder. If you're determined to use wood, V two boards together when end planks to keep it from falling over. Bigger boards for a goat feeder. Bricks and concrete work, but weigh a ton and it isn't easily moved when you've made it.

[uncle Will in In.]

Are you making feeders or waterers?? Good chicken feeders are a long 7 inch square trough with legs about 18 inches high. They have a long broom handle sized rod going from one end to the other just above the edge of the trough down the middle. This keeps the chickens out of the feed. If they try to get on it it revolves and dumps them off. If has to have a little perch along both sides for the chickens to stand on and eat. If you can't build one yourself they sell steel ones like it at the farm stores.

[riaketty]

Originally Posted by wy_white_wolf

Old water heater cut in half length wise makes a good feeder.

I have also done that with plastic barrels. Cut either length wise or one end off depending on how you want it.

For chickens I did see one that was an old piece of rain gutter mounted on the wall at floor level. The gutter was narrow enough to keep the chickens out and they couldn't stand on the edge of it.

Gutters! What an EXCELLENT idea. We could line the pen with them... hmm.

[highlands]

We have a lot of feeders made by cutting a 55 gallon plastic barrel in half. This yields two feeders. We sometimes cut them low to make short feeders for piglets. Sometimes high and bury the bottom for waterers so they stay put. Set a rock in the bottom to let piglets get out.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

[chewie]

i've seen ppl using pvc pipe, cut in half lengthwise, add the caps on the ends to feed goats.

[Jolly]

As has already been pointed out, probably the easiest is the old V-trough made from a few wood scraps.

For durability, the ones made from old hot water heaters are hard to beat.

[Merit]

Gutters work great..mostly. I used one with my broilers.

[Fae]

My in-laws made a lot of the v-trough feeders and they worked great.

[Old John]

My Old Dad use to nail together lengthwise a 2x10 and a 2x12, with a piece of 2x10 across each end, to make a simple V-trough. Make them long as you want them.
They work for feed, or slopping the pigs and last a good while.

[byexample]

We've made several troughs out of concrete for the pig (he kept turning over everything else). Was very easy to make. Built a box out of 2 x 10s with a removable plywood bottom. Then we mounded up some damp (not wet) sand inside the box to the size and shape we wanted in the trough space. Once formed, smoothed, etc.. we gently shoveled small amounts of ready-mix into the box and leveled it off at the top. Let it sit for about 24 hours and then pull the form apart and scoop out the sand. Let it sit for another few days to fully cure before use.

Makes a very durable trough... but it's also quite heavy. So you'll want to be careful not to make them so heavy that you can't tip them up for cleaning from time to time. You also should be careful to make the trough as close to it's final home as possible so you don't have to move it any further than necessary.

[Timberline]

My goat feeders are made from 55 gallon drums, rebar and scrap pipe. They have held up for over 20 years.

I made a big wooden feeder on the wall inside the chicken house. It holds a 50# bag of feed. The chickens can't get in it and it keeps their feed clean and inside away from the wild birds.

One of my goat feeders.

[hillbillly]

nice work.

[Timberline]

Originally Posted by hillbillly

nice work.

Thanks. As you can see, it doesn't prevent the goats from pulling out the hay they don't like. I'm thinking about adding some 4" square woven wire to the inside to see if that will help.

[uncle Will in In.]

The best hay feeders for goats were made of plywood with keyhole shaped holes in the sides. The goats has to raise their heads up to get it into the feeder. After they stick their head in, they then lower it with their neck in the narrow part of the keyhole. They can't pull hay out of the feeder unless they raise their heads up to back out. That is more bother than they will do. The feeder should be about 4 feet high. Sheet of plywood works great.

[DaleK]

Bit big, but my water troughs in the freestall barn are made of concrete. I just formed them in place and put some wire in them, They're about 2x6' inside with 4" thick walls and bottoms.

To make it easier to clean out, I put a 2" plastic elbow in the bottom of the trough flush with the surface of the concrete. I set a length of 2" pipe in the flare of the elbow with the other end of the pipe above the surface of the water. Have a cap over that end of the trough with the drain and the float under it so the cows can't play with them and when I want to clean it out I just reach under and pull the pipe out and the water all drains out.

[LFmenagerie]

We use the store bought hanging feeders for chickens.

For goats, we use a key hole feeder, one with wooden slats, and one using a hog panel to hold the hay in it. With wooden slats and the hog panel, they can still pull a lot of hay to the ground to be trampled and wasted. With the keyhole feeder, one mean goat can really put the hurt on another goat in a hurry if its head is stuck in the feeder.
Tom