Automating grain feeding in mobile pastured poultry coops.

View the project final report

Commodities

• Animals: poultry
• Animal Products: eggs

Practices

• Animal Production: feed management
• Sustainable Communities: quality of life

Proposal Summary:

One of the greatest challenges in a pastured poultry enterprise is excessive labor. The most strenuous labor comes from feeding the flocks. The large majority of pastured poultry farmers use 5-gallon buckets to feed their flocks. Most farmers currently do the following daily chore in order to feed a flock:

1. manually fill feed buckets (35 pounds each) from a grain bin,
2. lift buckets onto a pick-up truck or trailer,
3. transport them to the mobile coops,
4. lift buckets off of the vehicle or trailer,
5. carry the buckets to the feeder, and
6. lift buckets to dump feed it into a feeder. 

This has been the accepted way to feed poultry flocks. Typically, on a farm with 2800 hens, for example, the farmer will manually move 700-900 pounds of feed every day. Handling it multiple times means the farmer often lifts over 2000 pounds every single day just for this chore. This directly affects the emotional and physical strain on the farmer, leading to 1) high rates of burnout and 2) injuries such as carpel tunnel and ligament tears (both experienced by Michael, Project Coordinator)

In the proposed project, we will replace the current strenuous system with creative technological design.

Final Report Summary:

Pastured poultry production is widely recognized as a sustainable livestock system that improves animal welfare, pasture health, and food quality. However, one of the most significant barriers to long-term success for farmers operating these systems is labor intensity. Feeding is often the most physically demanding daily task because most farms rely on manual bucket feeding: filling 5-gallon buckets from a bin, lifting them onto a vehicle, transporting them to mobile coops, carrying them to feeders, and dumping feed by hand. On a farm with approximately 2,800 laying hens, this routine commonly requires moving 700–900 pounds of feed each day; because the feed is handled multiple times, farmers may lift more than 2,000 pounds daily just to complete feeding. Over time, this repetitive work contributes to farmer burnout, employee turnover, and physical injuries.

This project addressed that problem by designing, building, and testing a mobile, solar-powered automated grain feeding system for pastured poultry, adapted from conventional poultry-house feeding technology but modified to function on mobile coops. The project was intentionally structured as a two-farm effort, with each farm serving as a primary research and demonstration site. Three Brothers Farm (Oconomowoc, Wisconsin) trialed and refined the feeding system with laying hens and pullets, while Fed From The Farm (Sedalia, Missouri) trialed the same system with broilers and turkeys. Together, the two farms evaluated how this technology performs across the four major types of pastured poultry and documented the species-specific modifications required for each.

Research approach and educational approach

The research approach was farmer-led, applied, and iterative. Both farms built and operated mobile coop systems using: (1) a feed hopper mounted to the coop, (2) a conventional auger feedline with deep pans, (3) a DC motor powered by a battery-and-solar package, and (4) a bulk feed delivery method using an auger wagon to fill coop-mounted hoppers on a periodic schedule. Across the project period, the system underwent multiple redesigns and refinements based on real-world field performance. Key engineering challenges included structural reinforcement to handle the weight of full feed hoppers, reliable feed flow as bins emptied (bridging), and preventing moisture intrusion at interfaces between components not originally designed to work together in mobile outdoor environments.

Data collection focused on the practical outcomes most relevant to farmers: (1) time required to feed each flock, (2) physical strain from feeding tasks, and (3) burnout indicators related to feeding work. Baseline conditions from bucket-feeding systems were used for comparison. The educational approach centered on on-farm demonstrations, pasture walks, tours, and presentations that allowed farmers to observe the system operating with birds actively using the feeders, examine construction details up close, and learn what worked, what failed, and what modifications were necessary for different poultry types and coop styles.

Research conclusions

The project demonstrated that mobile automated feeding can substantially reduce both labor time and physical strain in pastured poultry systems. At Three Brothers Farm, average feeding time declined from approximately one hour per day to one hour per week, saving roughly six hours of manual labor per week. Physical strain associated with feeding declined sharply, from an average of 7.3/10 under bucket-feeding conditions to 1.2/10 with the automated system in place. The automated system also produced meaningful labor cost savings by reducing paid hours associated with feeding and by improving employee retention, since bucket feeding had been a primary driver of job dissatisfaction and turnover.

In addition to measurable labor savings, the project showed that equipment and concepts commonly used in conventional poultry production can be successfully adapted for pasture-based systems when farmers are willing to test, iterate, and refine designs. The system was not “plug and play” in the first season: bracing and pull geometry required significant improvement to prevent coop damage, moisture intrusion required practical field solutions, and feed bridging required attention and mitigation. However, after major design iterations, the system reached a point of stable operation and continued improvement became manageable rather than overwhelming.

Farmer adoption actions resulting from the education program

The system has been incorporated into regular feeding operations on the participating farms, replacing bucket-feeding as the primary method of feeding poultry in the tested coops. Educational outreach reached a large number of producers and agricultural professionals through pasture walks, tours, and conference presentations. Participants reported strong interest in adapting similar systems and were able to learn concrete, replicable design principles—particularly around hopper mounting, structural reinforcement, power systems, moisture protection, and species-specific adjustments—so they can evaluate and pursue adoption on their own farms. Three Brothers Farm is now helping aggregation partner farms to install these systems on their mobile housing to streamline their production systems. 

Beneficiary outcome story:

For the project coordinator, the most immediate and meaningful outcome was health-related. Prior to implementing automated feeding, daily bucket feeding contributed to persistent nighttime nerve pain and disrupted sleep. Within days of operating the automated system, symptoms began to fade; within two weeks, the pain resolved and did not return. This outcome reinforced that labor-saving innovations can improve not only farm efficiency and profitability, but also farmer well-being and long-term sustainability of the operation.

In order to eliminate the excessive daily labor of manually feeding poultry, we incorporated elements of conventional poultry house technology, modified them to be mobile, and adapted each step of the process to minimize manual labor. The main piece of equipment used was a standard feedline with deep pans. Specifically, we used a Cumberland brand auger feed line. In a conventional poultry house, this system is connected to a stationary grain bin via a bin boot and unloader. Grain is then drawn through a 1.5-inch pipe using an auger. As the feed flows through the pipe, it falls into feed pans through fittings along the pipe until each pan is filled. The final pan is equipped with a sensor that deactivates the motor when it is full. In conventional systems this setup is powered by an AC motor. In this project, we kept the basic premise of the system the same but made the necessary modifications for it to function properly on a mobile coop.

Starting from the bin and moving to the motor, several modifications were required.

Grain bins were attached directly to the coops. Because conventional grain bins are round and difficult to secure to mobile structures, we hired a local fabricator to build flat-fronted grain hoppers. These were designed to mount securely to the coop frame. Additional bracing was required to maintain the structural integrity of the coop under the added weight of the grain.

The auger motor was powered using a 250Ah 12-volt battery installed on each coop. This required the use of a 2000-watt pure sine inverter and a 700-watt solar panel with a charge controller mounted on top of the coop. These components were sized appropriately to operate the system and maintain battery charge through regular use.

Beyond the system mounted to the coop itself, we also needed an efficient method to transport feed to the coops. For this, we used equipment already in operation on the participating farms and therefore not included in the project budget. Bulk feed was stored in existing stationary grain bins. Auger wagons were filled from those bins approximately every 8–10 days. The wagons were then driven to the pasture where the mobile coops were located, and the hydraulic auger was used to fill the grain hoppers mounted on each coop.

The systems were constructed in Spring 2024 and operated within the farms’ daily-move grazing systems. Throughout the grazing season we continued refining the design as challenges emerged. After the first grazing season, several design improvements were identified and implemented during the winter before being tested again during the Spring 2025 grazing season.

Weekly assessments were conducted to collect data on the following:

• Time required to feed each flock (and associated labor costs)

• Levels of physical strain caused by feeding tasks

• Levels of burnout related to feeding duties (measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory)

Baseline measurements for these metrics were collected during the 2023 season using the conventional bucket-feeding system in order to provide a comparison.

The project coordinator then communicated data results and construction details to the pastured poultry industry through the communication channels described below.

Objectives of the project included:

• Designing and building a mobile solar-powered automated feeding system for pastured poultry that eliminates the strenuous aspects of daily feeding.

• Identifying necessary modifications for the four major types of pastured poultry (laying hens, pullets, broilers, and turkeys).

• Documenting data associated with labor in terms of time, physical strain, and burnout levels.

• Distributing findings and construction details to the pastured poultry industry through articles (Grit, Organic Broadcaster, and the Three Brothers Farm newsletter), APPPA forum discussions, and social media (Instagram: KeepTheFlockMoving).