The best zero waste chicken feeder: 5 gallon bucket with inverted 3" elbow [1022x986 - 145KB]

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The best zero waste chicken feeder: 5 gallon bucket with inverted 3" elbow [1022x986 - 145KB] (pic8.co)

Here is what you do: Take a 3" street elbow, clamp it to a workbench, and use a handsaw to remove the flange ring from the hub side. The cut part will point towards the floor of the bucket, the Male part will insert through the bucket. Press the Male side onto your bucket with enough force to flatten the bucket wall and mark your cut so that the cut side of the elbow will be ~1 1/2" from the floor of the bucket. Insert the Male part of the street elbow and push the flange ring that was cut off onto it from the outside, sandwiching the bucket wall. It should scrunch up nice and tight without any adhesive. Shazaaam, you are done. Fill it with feed and relax, knowing that your flock is properly fed, and none of the feed is going on the ground. For ~6 hens I only have to fill this once a month or so. Total cost: $7 for a 3" street elbow and a bucket- which can be replaced should it degrade from the sun, etc. Enjoy.

Edit to add: I forgot one important detail in my how-to. You cut off most of the flange, and then cut off the remaining ~1/2". You slide that small ring on the elbow first and it is real tight- gives a boss to capture the bucket side when you slide on the ring from the outside:

https://i.ibb.co/djmkn3V/Bucket-Feeder-Elbow-removed.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/HgMsGNW/Bucket-Feeder-Top-View.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tCVq365/Bucket-Feeder-Flange-removed.jpg

And what the heck- a diagram to explain the cutting of the Street Elbow:

https://i.ibb.co/2ZzZwzd/3-street-elbow-for-bucket-feeder.jpg

Make the two cuts, outer (big) one first. And then trim off the transition bevel at the end of the flange if you want- but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that you cut the 1/2" ring just away from that bevel, otherwise it will be too tight to put on the male end. I also held these rings on a disk sander to square them up nice after they were cut, but I don't think that is actually necessary unless your cuts are really wonky.

Edit: That explanation of how to cut the flange into rings using handsaw only is a safer way to do it than what I actually did to make this, which involves cutting the ring off once with a handsaw and then cutting the ring on a tablesaw - which I really don't recommend to anyone who is not familiar with cutting plastic pipe with circular saws, either chop or table. It's Fucking A Dangerous. No joke. Snaggy Shit. So know your machine and material well if you are going to try it this way. This way will make your rings perfect though. And is probably easier to get A-1 results. It involves having the blade up just high enough to get through the flange, so you can get the image of trying to cut the ring with the blade fully up out of your head- it isn't that dangerous. Cut the street elbow with a handsaw just past the bevel, so it is included with the ring. With a fine tooth blade on your table saw, set the fence by holding the factory face of the ring against the fence and aligning the cut to remove the bevel entirely. Raise the blade just far enough that it will get through the flange. Raising it higher will result in less cleanup with a sander or such- but this cut gets more dangerous the more blade you have up. Once the blade height is done, turn on your saw and hold the factory face of the flange against the fence and gradually slide it into the saw, stopping about mid center- at which point you start rolling the ring. Roll the top towards you- this will keep kerf at the rear of the blade instead of going the other way- which would feed uncut material into the back- climbing- side, which is climb milling and would probably result in the blade grabbing the ring. Try to have your right hand on the fence, and hold the piece so that it won't draw your hands into the saw if it snags. Just use your left hand to steady that side and don't actually grab the ring. Roll the ring around all the way, and the bevel scrap will fall away. Poof- the ring is now cut darned near perfect in width. I had a fair amount of "flaps" or burrs of plastic still welded on which I got afterwards by just touching it on a disc sander, because I had the blade up the minimum. Might come out cleaner if had the blade up more, but the snag factor goes up exponentially. Anyways, after the first cut move the fence over 1/2" or so and repeat the ring roll cut. Poof. You have two perfect rings that just need to be deburred.

If you have chickens and are using one of the commercially available feeders, this is what you need. Forget about any "Filled Tube" type of pipe feeders, they suck compared to this, trust me, I know. This way the chickens stick their neck in and eat from the floor of the bucket, which constantly falls down as feed is consumed. Zero Waste! Literally. Here is what you do: Take a 3" street elbow, clamp it to a workbench, and use a handsaw to remove the flange ring from the hub side. The cut part will point towards the floor of the bucket, the Male part will insert through the bucket. Press the Male side onto your bucket with enough force to flatten the bucket wall and mark your cut so that the cut side of the elbow will be ~1 1/2" from the floor of the bucket. Insert the Male part of the street elbow and push the flange ring that was cut off onto it from the outside, sandwiching the bucket wall. It should scrunch up nice and tight without any adhesive. Shazaaam, you are done. Fill it with feed and relax, knowing that your flock is properly fed, and none of the feed is going on the ground. For ~6 hens I only have to fill this once a month or so. Total cost: $7 for a 3" street elbow and a bucket- which can be replaced should it degrade from the sun, etc. Enjoy. Edit to add: I forgot one important detail in my how-to. You cut off most of the flange, and then cut off the remaining ~1/2". You slide that small ring on the elbow first and it is real tight- gives a boss to capture the bucket side when you slide on the ring from the outside: https://i.ibb.co/djmkn3V/Bucket-Feeder-Elbow-removed.jpg https://i.ibb.co/HgMsGNW/Bucket-Feeder-Top-View.jpg https://i.ibb.co/tCVq365/Bucket-Feeder-Flange-removed.jpg And what the heck- a diagram to explain the cutting of the Street Elbow: https://i.ibb.co/2ZzZwzd/3-street-elbow-for-bucket-feeder.jpg Make the two cuts, outer (big) one first. And then trim off the transition bevel at the end of the flange if you want- but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that you cut the 1/2" ring just away from that bevel, otherwise it will be too tight to put on the male end. I also held these rings on a disk sander to square them up nice after they were cut, but I don't think that is actually necessary unless your cuts are really wonky. Edit: That explanation of how to cut the flange into rings using handsaw only is a safer way to do it than what I actually did to make this, which involves cutting the ring off once with a handsaw and then cutting the ring on a tablesaw - which I really don't recommend to anyone who is not familiar with cutting plastic pipe with circular saws, either chop or table. It's Fucking A Dangerous. No joke. Snaggy Shit. So know your machine and material well if you are going to try it this way. This way will make your rings perfect though. And is probably easier to get A-1 results. It involves having the blade up just high enough to get through the flange, so you can get the image of trying to cut the ring with the blade fully up out of your head- it isn't *that* dangerous. Cut the street elbow with a handsaw just past the bevel, so it is included with the ring. With a fine tooth blade on your table saw, set the fence by holding the factory face of the ring against the fence and aligning the cut to remove the bevel entirely. Raise the blade just far enough that it will get through the flange. Raising it higher will result in less cleanup with a sander or such- but this cut gets more dangerous the more blade you have up. Once the blade height is done, turn on your saw and hold the factory face of the flange against the fence and gradually slide it into the saw, stopping about mid center- at which point you start rolling the ring. Roll the top towards you- this will keep kerf at the rear of the blade instead of going the other way- which would feed uncut material into the back- climbing- side, which is climb milling and would probably result in the blade grabbing the ring. Try to have your right hand on the fence, and hold the piece so that it won't draw your hands into the saw if it snags. Just use your left hand to steady that side and don't actually grab the ring. Roll the ring around all the way, and the bevel scrap will fall away. Poof- the ring is now cut darned near perfect in width. I had a fair amount of "flaps" or burrs of plastic still welded on which I got afterwards by just touching it on a disc sander, because I had the blade up the minimum. Might come out cleaner if had the blade up more, but the snag factor goes up exponentially. Anyways, after the first cut move the fence over 1/2" or so and repeat the ring roll cut. Poof. You have two perfect rings that just need to be deburred.

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