rustybucket
Buck Fawn
This is the second year on our property. We put in food plots and planted about 200 hard mast trees last year (white oaks, swamp chestnut oaks, bur oaks, chestnuts (chinese and hybrid)).
This year is the year of the feeder and soft mast. We already put in two gravity feeders, which are currently filled with corn, trying to get the deer used to eating from them before I switch to half corn, half protein and eventually to 100% protein. Decided to put in a couple of trough feeders to attempt to go ahead and get some protein in front of them. Didn't really want to spend a ton of money on these b/c I'm not sure if they are going to be long-term successful for us or not. I'm not really interested in feeding coons and varmints.....
So, I looked around the shed to find what materials I had to put together a couple of trough feeders.... and I'm pretty happy with the results.....
Materials:
1 plastic barrel - not exactly cut in half, I'd say I cut it in thirds, with the middle third being disposed of.
12 fence posts, 6 for each feeder - I had a pile laying behind the shop leftover from another project. 4x4's or even 2x4's would work just as well as long as they are pressure treated
16 x 5/16" lag bolts and washers - 8 per feeder - long enough to go through a fencepost and about 3/4 of the way through the another.
4 pallets - I used 1.5 pallets for the roof framing. Final roof was about 6' long. The pallet was cut on one of the supports and then screwed to the other pallet with 3 1/2" sheetrock screws.
Tin roof, or shingles, or whatever. Something to put over the pallet framed roof to keep the feed dry.
All places where the posts intersected I notched them with the chainsaw, drilled a 5/16 pilot hole in the outer post then 1 lag bolt and washer through. Hint: To get the lag bolts started insert them and then hit them a few times with a hammer or 3lb hammer to get the point started. You can then use a normal ratchet and socket (manual) or a battery powered impact driver (stupid fast and easy)
The finished product
The horizontal poles that hold the trough overhang quite a bit. You could cut them flush, but I'm using them to hold 'goodies'. Right now there is a mineral rock on one side, I'll probably put apples/pears...etc on the other side. Maybe some whole ear corn or whatever.
Always handy to have a young hole digger with you on projects like this!!
To hopefully get them using this I'm offering 3 feeds to start with, eventually will be 100% protein in here. From left to right is Sweet Feed, Corn, Protein. I know sweet feed isn't good for them, it will not be fed long-term, just until some deer start using these.
On the second feeder, I have a hanging himalayan salt rock, you can find these in the horse section of Tractor Supply or pretty much any tack shop.
All in all, I'm VERY pleased with the results. I have about $20 in lag bolts out of pocket in the entire project, everything else was just laying around. We had about 2hrs labor in each feeder. Did one with me and the boy and the other was me and my brother in law. You really need two people to help hold the posts and roof as it goes up as it is rickety until you get the lag bolts in and the angled supports.
Thoughts/comments? what could be done better/differently?
This year is the year of the feeder and soft mast. We already put in two gravity feeders, which are currently filled with corn, trying to get the deer used to eating from them before I switch to half corn, half protein and eventually to 100% protein. Decided to put in a couple of trough feeders to attempt to go ahead and get some protein in front of them. Didn't really want to spend a ton of money on these b/c I'm not sure if they are going to be long-term successful for us or not. I'm not really interested in feeding coons and varmints.....
So, I looked around the shed to find what materials I had to put together a couple of trough feeders.... and I'm pretty happy with the results.....
Materials:
1 plastic barrel - not exactly cut in half, I'd say I cut it in thirds, with the middle third being disposed of.
12 fence posts, 6 for each feeder - I had a pile laying behind the shop leftover from another project. 4x4's or even 2x4's would work just as well as long as they are pressure treated
16 x 5/16" lag bolts and washers - 8 per feeder - long enough to go through a fencepost and about 3/4 of the way through the another.
4 pallets - I used 1.5 pallets for the roof framing. Final roof was about 6' long. The pallet was cut on one of the supports and then screwed to the other pallet with 3 1/2" sheetrock screws.
Tin roof, or shingles, or whatever. Something to put over the pallet framed roof to keep the feed dry.
All places where the posts intersected I notched them with the chainsaw, drilled a 5/16 pilot hole in the outer post then 1 lag bolt and washer through. Hint: To get the lag bolts started insert them and then hit them a few times with a hammer or 3lb hammer to get the point started. You can then use a normal ratchet and socket (manual) or a battery powered impact driver (stupid fast and easy)
The finished product
The horizontal poles that hold the trough overhang quite a bit. You could cut them flush, but I'm using them to hold 'goodies'. Right now there is a mineral rock on one side, I'll probably put apples/pears...etc on the other side. Maybe some whole ear corn or whatever.
Always handy to have a young hole digger with you on projects like this!!
To hopefully get them using this I'm offering 3 feeds to start with, eventually will be 100% protein in here. From left to right is Sweet Feed, Corn, Protein. I know sweet feed isn't good for them, it will not be fed long-term, just until some deer start using these.
On the second feeder, I have a hanging himalayan salt rock, you can find these in the horse section of Tractor Supply or pretty much any tack shop.
All in all, I'm VERY pleased with the results. I have about $20 in lag bolts out of pocket in the entire project, everything else was just laying around. We had about 2hrs labor in each feeder. Did one with me and the boy and the other was me and my brother in law. You really need two people to help hold the posts and roof as it goes up as it is rickety until you get the lag bolts in and the angled supports.
Thoughts/comments? what could be done better/differently?
