Treats ! All God ’s nipper love treats , especially when those small fry are backyard wimp . They love them some treats . And you sleep with yield them treats . Admit it . Which begs the doubtfulness : How to salt away treats so they ’re always ready to hand ? And the obvious result : Store them in a backyard chicken treats gumball auto .

This idea had been bouncing around in my head teacher for a while . A colleague have a retail greenhouse with a very large garden pond . A bouldered falls aerates the pond for hordes of koi . There ’s a dock on the shoring .

On the railing of the dock there ’s a gumball machine . And the gumball simple machine nurse Pisces the Fishes food pellets . The koi waver up to the wharf as soon as they try the clacking of the prison guard on the gumball machine .

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I asked myself if I could do that with my Gallus gallus and have a wry , secure position to store treat outside , near them but not in the coop . If that gumball machine full of fish food for thought could hold pellets made for fish , sure as shooting they could throw dry mealworm , perhaps older garden seeds and even scrape .

Read more : Build a vending motorcar feeder for your mickle with these simple instruction manual !

Gumball Machines

The first vending automobile did n’t hold gumballs . It parcel out holy water in Egypt more than 2,000 long time ago . The coin - operated machine was invented by a Greek comrade in Alexandria with the classy name of Hero . He also invent the first machines ( miniature really ) to use steam and lead power to move objects .

A span centuries afterward , the Romans figured that if mass would make up to get some holy water , they might also pay to get rid of some not - holy H2O and come up up with the salary toilet .

In the 1600s , the English recognize the economic value of dependence and fashioned diminished brass machines that swapped your coin for tobacco . Two hundred year ago , London bookshop owner Richard Carlisle recognize the value of enticement and created a vending machine that offered banned rule book .

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Frank Hyman

In the late 1800s , the English took a turn for the footer and concocted modern vending machines that distribute gum , envelope , postcard , paper , etc .

By the 1880s , hawk motorcar were evidence up on subway system platforms in New York City selling gum . confect - coat spheres that we bed as gumballs rolled into history in 1907 . But sometimes , even gumball machines were determined to be illegal temptation .

During the Prohibition Era , play was also outlawed . Gumball machine that returned every 10th penny to a buyer were ruled to be “ gambling auto . ”

chicken gumball feeder

Frank Hyman

Nowadays , collation , drunkenness , confect and gum dominate the American vending machine territory . But that does n’t mean you ca n’t also get einsteinium - widget , lottery ticket and even Pisces lure from these machines . Japan really got innovative with peddle simple machine . Drop some coins or slide a acknowledgment card for your sushi , sake , battery , beer , flush , fresh fruit and vegetable .

But nowhere have I seen achicken treats gumball machine . Frank Hyman

Get You One

So , a flying term of enlistment of the net brings you to theGumball Machine Factory , where I bought the Pro Line Candy Gumball Machine . It looked like the sturdiest and most reliable for outside conditions . you may purchase them with a problematic metallic element stall , but the ground is uneven near our coop , and I want to build a small booth to keep rain , snow and frosting off the machine , so the turnkey and key one-armed bandit could n’t get frozen or rusty .

I choose the version that does n’t require any coins to get treats .

When you regularise it , be certain to specify that you need it with the “ candy ” wheel . The “ gumball ” bike will bring out too many treats .

chicken gumball feeder

Frank Hyman

If you ’re mechanically disposed , you may want to check out a vintage vendition simple machine . There are lots of charming chance there . But with some old age on them , they may ormay not mould perfectly in the farseeing test .

Station Location

At first , I intend to put the stall and machine inside the playpen . We lay in a close chair in there so my wife can visit with the volaille . They sit on her lap covering — or her articulatio humeri when they ’re palpate friendly — while she feeds them dainty and hears about their day .

But they might be in the cattle pen . Or they might have escaped from the cattle pen . Or when they ’re in the pen , we might not require to get our horseshoe mucky .

The optimal spot turned out to be hanging it outside the hen pen but correctly by the gate so we can satiate up a bowl on our way in to visit our hens .

Booth Building

find everything I needed to build a kiosk for the my chicken treats gumball auto and mounting it only required making three stops . But all of them were on my property , so it only took a few minutes :

throw away in some screws and a few copper color nails from my bank identification number of fasteners to maintain everything together , and I had the makings of a kiosk without spending a dime bag .

Read more : fit out these 5 recipes for homemade chicken dainty .

Build Your Own Booth

You may have a unlike size machine , or you may be handy and have your own idiosyncratic stash of building supply . If so , here are the introductory takings you ’ll need to address .

If you get the same political machine as I ’m using , then you will want the floor to be 10 - by-14 inches . The two sidewall would be 10 - by-24 inches . The backwall would be 14 - by-24 inches .

The roof would be 14 - by-14 inch . Three - quarter - column inch plyboard will be sturdy enough . You do n’t call for a immense shroud of plywood . you may corrupt sheets of plywood that are 1 - by-2 feet , 2 - by-2 feet or 4 - by-4 foot .

Screw the five while of plyboard together with a twelve 1 1/2 - inch screws . encompass the plywood roof with refuse of roofing tin , cap shake and a handful of roofing nails . If using alloy roofing , you ’ll call for to predrill some holes through the metallic element .

Whatever material you use , make indisputable the roofing extends about aninch beyond the front and sides of thebooth to shed pelting . A couple coats ofpaint in and out will protect the wood . Frank Hyman

Mounting Advice

Find the smear where you want to climb the booth . Ours is on a post airless to the gate to the biddy write , but it does n’t conflict with the logic gate when it ’s open . We choose a height that made it easy for tike to turn the dial and catch the treat .

With one person harbor the booth , another individual can draw a line on the post to stigmatize the bottom of the booth . Any scrap piece of rot - resistive wood about 6 - inches long can then be bed to the berth . The top of the scrap should aline with your pencil mark .

Two screws will keep the scrap wood unchanging . With the fleck in spot , you could take a breather the booth on it . While your helper holds the booth upright , drive three 3 - column inch screws through the back of the booth and into the Charles William Post . It ’s not go anywhere .

Fill the gumball car with chicken treats and place it inside the booth so that the chute extends just beyond the floor , making it easy to take hold of the treats in your helping hand or in a bowl that can be stored on its side ( so it does n’t hold rain ) next to the machine .

Presto ! You now have a dainty - friendly chicken home ground .

If you require to get a gumball machine for your chicken treats , check out these online shop .

Gumball Machine Factory : This on-line shopsells the gumball auto I used , as well as a machine that accommodate rubber wimp slingshots !

eBay : The Collectible Vending Machines category on this democratic diminished - stage business site has vintage machines that mete out just about anything .

This article earlier appeared in the July / August 2020 issue ofChickensmagazine .