IN THE BEGINNING . . .
They look like this. Plain old chicken feeders.
I used these types of feeders with my 4-H poultry projects growing up. We had these rusty old feeders in abundance, and they became the source of my inspiration as we prepared for our first barn sale.
BIRTH OF A BARN CHICK FEEDER
One really nice afternoon I decided to paint a feeder to see how it would look. Turquoise of course. Once I showed it to my two partners they joined my bandwagon! So we each took about twelve to paint; red, turquoise, yellow, green, maroon, brown and any other color we could come up with! I will never look at 
chicken feeders the same! As we watched these colors come alive, a new purpose for old chicken feeders was born. We envisioned them as awesome planters for beautiful flowering plants, utilizing both the top and bottom parts of the feeders. One of our customers bought four for Christmas presents and planned on using them as dog feeders for dogs with little noses! They can hold walking sticks (which are all stick horses in my house), wrapping paper, umbrellas or big pretty pumpkins in the fall! FEEDERS COME TO LIFE
After painting them pretty colors, I couldn’t stop. So I started adding words, stars and sayings. “Howdy”, “Welcome”, “Howdy Ya’ll”, and “Yee Haw” were just a few that I came up with.
We also contacted a friend, Terri C, (who has been a fabulous vendor for the past two years), and ordered product from her to dress up the feeders as well- Uppercase Living stick-on words, letters etc.
One of my partners used a cut-out of a rooster with the words ‘Welcome to our Roost’. You talk about cute…Oh my! It sold quickly! The “Howdy” on maroon went fast too! Terri’s stick-on products have tons of uses. You can check out her ideas at www.uppercaseliving.com/Products/.
These feeders look so plain in the beginning. But when a Barn Chick grabs a paint brush and some turquoise paint…it’s like breathing in new life! It’s always such a treat to see what a good coat of paint can do to something!
I’m tickled we had a chance to give new life to something that served an important role in my life for many many years.
THE FUTURE FOR OUR FEEDERS
It’s likely you’ll see more feeders at this year’s barn sale, although our supply is diminishing quickly. Did you buy one in the past? Leave us a comment and tell us how you are using it. We’d love to hear what great ideas you have. And just so you know, I’m not totally abandoning the original use of the feeder. I have saved one for our own chickens (the ones we don’t have yet but will in the future – a blog entry for another day!). You can be sure that when my chickens arrive, they will be pecking in style!
Suzanne
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