55 gal plastic feeder

[Strother23]

In the off season I am planing on making a home made deer feeder. I have decided on using a 55gal plastic drum and using PVC for a gravity feed (Got all for free from my dad's work). The question I have it what is the best way to make legs for the feeder? I see online that some outdoors stores make kits but cost 50+ dollars. (Don't want to spend that lol) So is there a simple way to make legs from like a hardware store? Any suggestions would be great or even some pictures of feeders you guys have made.

 

["J"]

How high off the ground we talking about????

 

[Strother23]

The bottom of the barrel at around 5ft or so.

 

[Hortontoter]

Maybe hanging it would be easier. Run a small cable over an overhanging limb and use a boat winch to raise and lower. Easier to fill this wat also.

 

[Joel]

Maybe hanging it would be easier. Run a small cable over an overhanging limb and use a boat winch to raise and lower. Easier to fill this wat also.

That's a good idea! It's going to be heavy if it's full. A 50 lbs bag of corn will about fill a 5 gallon bucket twice, so that's about 275 pounds when full? Give or take?

I was thinking build a frame for it with 4x4s and 2x6s but hanging it might be cheaper, faster and then easier to refill.

 

[xbowguy]

Just something to think about..... If your tubes are going all the way to the ground, squirrels will "dig" in your corn until you have this un-godly pile on the ground. I used a 6" stovepipe about 6' tall with a 90 on the bottom (semi closed off) and they had all the corn out in a pile on the 3rd day.

 

[Hortontoter]

I started with 5 foot 6 inch PVC pipe. I made one small notch at the bottom edge and placed the pipe on top of a small patio block. I secued the pipe to a metal fence post. This way nothing could dig underneath the pipe. Worked pretty well until the squirrels chewed a bigger hole in the pipe. I took a piece of metal from a soup can and riveted it to cover the hole the squirrels made and then made a notch in the metal. Took care of the squirrel issues.

Later I bought a timed feeder with a varmint guard. The guard was no match for the coons. And the birds and squirrels acted like it wasn't even there.

 

[MK111]

That's a good idea! It's going to be heavy if it's full. A 50 lbs bag of corn will about fill a 5 gallon bucket twice, so that's about 275 pounds when full? Give or take?

I was thinking build a frame for it with 4x4s and 2x6s but hanging it might be cheaper, faster and then easier to refill.

Be careful and don't drop all that weight on your head or foot.

 

[Strother23]

Decided to make a wooden platform with 4 legs and the 55gal drum on top with the PVC coming down in the center to a "T" shape and there are 2 sides for deer to eat from. The hight of the platform is about 6ft the plus the hight of the drum. I filled it up yesterday. Holds about 350lbs of corn. Also put up a lot of tack strips all over the wooden legs and some metal mending strips (spikes) all over the PVC to help slow down the raccoons. I think I came out nice considering it's the 1st feeder I've made. I will get some pics on here soon to show it.

 

[Strother23]

 

[Mike]

Looks good!

 

[xbowguy]

I like the feeder.....Deer pics look great too!

 

[rsmith]

Like the feeder a lot very cool!

 

[MK111]

Looks good. What's the black cylinder hanging on that rack?

 

[Strother23]

I got it from the deer and turkey show. It was a new product last year. Seemed pretty cool so I got one. It has dried molasses and salt in it and when it gets opened it slowly absorbs the moisture out of the air and drips. It dripped for about 6months. seems to work.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Pretty cool stuff man! That should be a real magnet come winter time.

 

[Strother23]

Here are the tack strips up the legs and the mending plates on the PVC to make the coons think twice. Hopefully the next time I pull the cards I won't see coons.

 

[swantucky]

Here is one I made from a metal drum and some scrap lumber I had laying around. I need to fix the flow tube, the skerls ate most of it. I'll probably just use some sheet metal.