How to make do-it-yourself drinkers and feeders for pigeons

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Pigeons are decorative birds that require care from their owner. For a good keeping of these short-billed birds, it is important to provide them with the most comfortable living conditions. Part of them consists in arranging an aviary or dovecote with feeders and drinkers. Feeders for pigeons can be purchased from the factory or made by hand.

Do-it-yourself feeders and drinkers for pigeons

The issue of nutrition and its organization is one of the main ones for the successful breeding of birds, because it will be inconvenient for these winged ones to receive the required amount of food or water, this will affect their health. Feeders for birds can be easily made by hand, just like drinkers. This will help save money on further bird care.

The health of pigeons depends on their content

Bird feeders and drinkers, and their effectiveness, are an important part of caring for any breed of pigeon. Before starting such living creatures, it is important to solve this problem, because the state of health of the birds depends on these containers. The comfort they need will keep them healthy. Birds will have shining eyes, even breathing and noticeably shiny plumage will be clearly audible. Any poultry farmer will tell you that these are all signs of quality care.

Novice poultry farmers can postpone the construction of pigeon feeders for some time. This is due to the fact that the chicks cannot take food on their own for the first week. But as soon as they firmly stand on their paws, it is urgent to get down to business: to make feeders and drinkers for pigeons. Before taking on the tools, you need to know about all the nuances associated with design features.

Requirements for pigeon feeders

Do-it-yourself feeders for pigeons are made quickly. Their production can take from several minutes to 2-3 hours. Each version of such devices has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. It is important to study in detail all types of design, so as not to make a mistake in the manufacturing process itself. This can lead to additional waste of materials, as well as difficulties in keeping birds. Before choosing a model for a future device, you should be aware of the requirements that a bird feeder should have. These include:

1. The presence of protective elements in the structure of the feeder, which are necessary to protect the inside of the structure from litter and bird droppings.
2. Ease of use. The birds must have an unobstructed approach to food.
3. Design features to protect the food container from the paws of birds.

Pigeon feeders can meet all of these requirements, even with the simplest design. The birds get the necessary comfort even from an ordinary tin can or cut plastic containers, but if the number of heads is large, such drinkers become ineffective. In addition, the service life of such feeders is short.

If the poultry farmer decides to take seriously the manufacture of a homemade device, he should study several theoretical and practical manuals on this topic. A person can also get the proper level of knowledge from experienced poultry farmers, who share their advice on the forums, and also post photos and videos of the construction of their feeders on the Internet.

Making a simple feeder

Making a pigeon feeder is not difficult, especially if its design does not require any special, complex and time-consuming actions on the part of the bird owner. One of these is a cardboard product. Its advantage is that it does not require financial costs and is easily constructed from another material - wood. There are more disadvantages. The main ones are:

• fragility;
• the need for frequent addition of feed;
• ineffective use in dovecotes with a large number of birds.

If the poultry farmer has a desire to make such a feeder with his own hands, he only needs:

• cardboard (2 regular boxes are suitable);
• thin wooden slats;
• stapler or glue.

Such a do-it-yourself pigeon feeder is designed as follows:

1. To the inner four corners of one of the boxes, they are attached with a stapler or the strips are glued vertically 10-15 cm above the level of the box itself.
2. The roof is cut out of cardboard. It is made even or pointed (optional).
3. The finished roof is glued to the ends of the vertical battens.

The structure will be more durable if a person uses stronger materials instead of cardboard. Woodwork is most effective even with a large number of heads contained.

Also, care should be taken to ensure that the feeder is located above the floor of the dovecote, so that birds do not carry droppings and litter inside the container. If dirt and dust gets into the food, this will harm the birds.

Making a bunker feeder

The hopper feeder is a good, reliable option that will be most effective with a small number of heads. To make it, you only need a plastic bottle and a knife. Such homemade devices are made as follows:

1. The bottle is cut into 2 parts so that the upper piece of the bottle is 1 centimeter shorter than the lower one.
2. At a distance of 2-3 cm from the bottom, holes of 3 cm in diameter are cut in a circle with a step of 2 cm from each other (the larger the bottle, the more holes there will be, and therefore more birds will be able to eat food at the same time).
3. The upper cut-off half of the container is placed with the neck down, into its second part.

This pigeon feeder is called automatic. It is not difficult to improve it. All that is needed for this is another plastic container with a lid, but with a large bottom diameter. Such a container for pigeons works on the principle of an auto-drinker.

The instructions for making such a device are extremely simple.

Following the example of water containers for pigeons, they make a do-it-yourself feeder. The manufacturing instructions are the same, only instead of the lower part of the bottle, a prepared container is used with pre-cut holes for the upper part of the device and windows for the birds themselves.

Immediately after the end of the design, the pigeons are admitted into the feeder to check if everything is working correctly.

Such an auto-feeder for pigeons allows you to free a person from constantly adding grain to pigeons. The larger the feeder is, the more free time the breeder will have. Such homemade devices are not suitable only for dovecotes with a large number of birds.

Drinking bowls for pigeons

Drinking bowls and feeders for pigeons have a large number of varieties. Both those and other devices can be in the form of a regular container, as well as a closed one with automatic product feeding. The dimensions of the container are selected based on the number of heads contained. Also, the dimensions of the container must be correctly calculated.A drinker that is too wide for pigeons can be perceived by the bird as a place to swim.

You should also consider the possibility of heating water in winter. For such purposes, a stainless steel vessel is better suited. Heating has its own characteristics, which must be considered even at the early stages of making a do-it-yourself drinker for pigeons.

Vacuum type drinker

Drinkers and feeders for pigeons are most often made automatic. This allows you to reduce the number of times pouring water or pouring grain, which gives a person more free time. Vacuum drinkers for birds are easy to design with your own hands. The poultry farmer needs to prepare:

• a jar of any volume with a plastic lid;
• several screws and a screwdriver;
• plastic saucer.

Such a feeder is constructed in a few minutes:

1. Self-tapping screws are screwed into the lid so that they rise 3-4 mm above the level of the lid itself and their caps are in the same plane.
2. Water is poured into the jar and tightly closed with a lid.
3. Turn the jar upside down and put it on a saucer with self-tapping screws.

Such a vacuum drinker allows the water to be constantly at the same level in the saucer. This design is simple and reliable, and a person can only monitor the volume of the remaining water supply in the bank and replenish it in a timely manner.

The correct design of the drinker and feeder facilitates access to food for birds, and the conditions and comfort of keeping birds determines their health and growth.