I'm building a turkey feeder out of a barrel that will have an internal funnel that focuses the scratch grains in the middle. Next step is to cut some holes on the bottom sides for the turkey to stick its head in to get the feed. Looking online at what others have done holes are either diamond shaped, round or oval. I'm thinking of going for more of an ovalish cut but don't seen any resources for minimum hole size. I don't want it too big to avoid coon issues. I'm thinking maybe going 5" long and 4" wide. I can always cut or grind it bigger but don't want to start too big.

Any advice?
FYI the are the type of feeders I'm replicating

No constructive advice to add, but can you make me one?

No matter how small you make it the coons will still be able to rake some out. My grandpa had one back in the day that was close to your dimensions......maybe not that wide though.

We didnt have pens around the feeders back then so we had problems with hogs rooting them up and flipping them. He ended up making a platform out of 2 old pallets and put the turkey feeder on top of that.....that fixed the hog problem.

SanAntoneAg said:

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No constructive advice to add, but can you make me one?

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Let me get this one figured out first! Cheapest i found online was $179 for the first picture. I have most the materials, only bought the galvanized funnel from BossBuck for $30. The rest is just my time. I'd like to have 2 of these spread out over our 400 acres before deer season so maybe i can watch some turkeys use it.

ought1ag said:

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No matter how small you make it the coons will still be able to rake some out. My grandpa had one back in the day that was close to your dimensions......maybe not that wide though.

We didnt have pens around the feeders back then so we had problems with hogs rooting them up and flipping them. He ended up making a platform out of 2 old pallets and put the turkey feeder on top of that.....that fixed the hog problem.

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I dont mind the coon reaching in to get corn, just dont want him crawling inside for an all he can eat buffet home.

I've got a 5 hog panel pen I'm going to put the feeder in prevent hogs from damaging it. At some point I may make a platform once i know the turkeys are using it.

Check out the pics of the Plateau turkey feeders. Raccoon and hog proof. Well, hog proof when properly staked.

Note that the holes for turkey to access feed are rather large.

https://www.google.com/search?q=plateau+land+turkey+feeder&safe=strict&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjRm4fxxvPjAhUBLqwKHf6ED6QQ_AUIECgB&biw=1280&bih=672#imgrc=_

How big of a hole depends on the size of the beak.

you could also build a perch around it to help with coons. if your legs are oiled up they'll have a harder time climbing and plopping themselves down for dinner.

Yeah i've been thinking about it more today and I'll prolly end up building 2 feeders. 1 on the ground and 1 on a platform. I'll have to walk around the barn at farm and see what materials i have to build a platform out of.

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How big of a hole depends on the size of the beak.

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if your legs are oiled up

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ought1ag said:

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No matter how small you make it the coons will still be able to rake some out.

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Don't forget what rats/ground squirrels/etc can do to a drum full of grain as well. A better mouse trap so to speak is a funnel inside of a 8-12" piece of pvc that has beak sized holes inside instead of a funnel with a cage around it. It's not going to eliminate non target losses but it'll help.

We just hung a regular feeder in a tree and filled it with milo instead of corn. Hogs seldom bothered as it was pretty spread out & more difficult for them to slurp up.

Use a spincast feeder with black oil sunflower seeds.

Apache said:

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We just hung a regular feeder in a tree and filled it with milo instead of corn. Hogs seldom bothered as it was pretty spread out & more difficult for them to slurp up.

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I hung a 100lbs feeder in the oak grove where I last saw a turkey and just put cracked corn in it. I thought the pieces would be too small for the pigs to mess with and they have completely destroyed underneath it.

Finally got the time to finish building my turkey feeder this weekend. All in it cost $90 with the paint.

For the holes I ended up double stacked a 3" bimetal hole saw then smoothing out with a grinder before covering the sharp edges with rubber trim

$20 food grade barrel with lid
$30 boss buck galvanized funnel
$20 American hunter feeder leg kit
$10 1/4 rubber sheet metal trim
$10 3 cans of rustoleum army green paint






Bonus pic of a jake I caught on camera, date messed up but should have been on August 8

Great job! Turned out nice!