Apparatus for feeding poultry

Abstract

A poultry feeder apparatus comprises a feed hopper suspended on an overhead rail by motor driven trolley wheels. Feed in the hopper is gravity fed to a flexible auger hose at the lower end of the hopper. At the outlet of the auger hose, a handle is provided to enable the farmer to manually direct discharge of feed into floor mounted trays accessible to very young chicks. Electrical switches mounted on the handle control forward and reverse movement of the hopper on the rail as well as operate the discharge auger. Using the handle mounted switches, the farmer controls movement of the feed hopper along the overhead rail to follow him throughout the chicken house as he distributes charges of feed into the feed trays. The feeder apparatus may be used in non-automated chicken houses without alteration. Automated houses can be adapted to use the apparatus by disconnecting the standard, suspended feed receptacles to enable the hopper to pass freely through the house.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.