Rain proof, slug proof, sloppy proof, poopy proof chicken feeder

I recently upgraded my original design of a feeder for the chickens that
1. Doesn't get grain all over the place (chickens tend toward sloppy eating)
2. Doesn't get the grain wet, so it can stay outside in 4 seasons.
3. Doesn't get chicken poop in the feeder. They do that often.
4. Saves me money in grain costs.
5. Allows me to be lazy when feeding them. Using this design I can load up 2-3 days worth of grain in one go.

...and now the new addition
5. Doesn't let slugs (or rats?) get at the grain. I never knew slugs liked grain so much.

The original design had slugs all over it in no time. This one is suspended higher. A further addition which I want to add to the legs is a dish of ground chicken eggs. The chickens will eat it and the slugs won't slug all over it, up the leg, and into the grain.

For those of you, like me, who haven't been able to minimize grain imputs very much, this should at least economize the grain expenditure a little.

I think that when they have consistant access to grain, they don't stuff themselves when the grain comes (improved digestion) and I don't have to always be there to feed them 3x a day.

No slugs for the chickens to peck at?

You're a mean taskmaster to those nice ladies.

The big red slugs who were crawling all over the feed, inside the tube, and all around the old structure (I flipped it over and there were like 20) are completely disregarded by the chickens.

Sometimes they'll walk on them and maybe once in a blue moon I find a disembodied slug, but for the most part the chickens couldn't care less.

The smaller grey ones might or might not get eaten, haven't seen that yet.

W

I'm just getting started with chickens. I love your feeder! Thanks for sharing a truly great idea.

Thanks and you're welcome.

As an update, things are going great a month on. No rain or anything else compromising the structure. I'm so much more happy with this than the old one. Zero Slugs to date, which was the main problem with the old one. Haven't needed to resort to egg shells on the two legs.

I'll still give them some food in a bowl, since they always finish every grain anyway; plus they seem to be bewildered when they come out in the morning and nobody has prepared anything for them. This tube is more to have a little side food for the rest of the day, once the bowl food is gone, or if I know I'm going to be away for too many hours.

William

William, would you like this topic to be focused on your design or can i post a video of a friend's one and talk about above 6 point which are very important to me too?
I'm full of theory, but don't know much about caring for chickens in practise, we get them soon and i think chickend feeder will be made before they do. :)

Go ahead. The more the merrier.
William

Thanks William.
This one is presented and was built by my friend, i think it's a wonderul design.
Would love to talk about it, i think i will do it... but additional inputs, doubts etc are always welcomed.
It was also posted here: http://permaculturenews.org/2014/10/24/build-automatic-chicken-feeder-free/

Cool. That design has the advantage of giving them very little every time. And it seems incredibly easy to make.
William

Update. Just got back from the chickens and the tube is not rat proof.

Apparently rats can jump to the height of a chicken's head. I even pulled aside the little platform to see if they could still jump and get to it, and yes, they can get inside even without the help of a platform.

Which is not good. Rats!
William