DIY Feed Bin: A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Your Own Wooden Horse Feed Bin

1. Measure across the back of your base and side assembly, which should be 64 14/32” wide. Measure the height, which should be 42″.
2. Cut a piece of plywood to 42” x 64 14/32” (or whatever your measurement was).
3. Cut two lengths of 2×4 to the same length as the plywood.
4. Place them flat on top of the plywood, one along each of the long edges.
5. Cut 3 35” lengths of 2×4. For each length, ensure that it fits neatly between the front and back 2x4s already placed on the plywood. Adjust the length accordingly.
6. Place the 3 short 2x4s evenly separated perpendicular to and between the front and back pieces.
7. When all pieces fit neatly, glue each to the plywood using a couple thin strips of wood glue. Clamp and allow to dry.
8. When dry, flip over and screw the plywood to the 2x4s with the 1″ wood screws.
9. Stand the back piece up and place it, plywood-side in, against the back of your base, side, and front assembly.
10. Using 3” screws, screw through the bottom length of 2×4 and into the matching 2×4 of the base.
11. Then screw through the side 2x4s and into the 2x4s along the back edge of each side piece.

At this point you have most of your grain bin built. It should look like this:

This next step is where we’re really going to deviate away from proper woodworking techniques. There are certainly better ways to do this, but we’re not going for proper joinery; we’re going for what’s possible to do with the tools we have.

Adding the Dividers:

I’m going to start with a picture of the end result to make it easier to follow the next series of steps to add the dividers.

1. Measure the depth and height of the inside of your feed bin and cut 2 pieces of plywood to fit this. Our measurements were 24″ wide by 26.25″ high. Always measure the actual bin and don’t go straight off my measurements – especially if you have adjusted the height of your bin for ease of scooping. Cut 3 pieces if you want 4 sections. Our first feed bin had four sections, but we mostly used that forth for random storage like pre-bagged feed for when we were away. For this new bin, we decided to go with just 3 sections.
2. You’ll want to decide how big you want your sections to be at this point. Our 3 sections are not equal on purpose. We go through a lot more beet pulp than anything else so we made the one section bigger than the other 2.
3. Measure from the edge of the inside of the feed bin to where you want your first divided. Cut a piece of 1×2 board to this length.
4. Add a strip of glue to this piece of board and place it perpendicular to your divider plywood so that the top of this piece is the same height as your plywood piece. Screw from the back into this piece with your 1″ screws.
   

   I didn’t get a picture of doing the back, but here’s a picture of this technique installing a side piece

5. Repeat for the next 2 sections.
6. Now you’ll need to cut and install the 2 side pieces using the same method as above. These pieces should be 8.25″ long.
7. Now it’s time to install the divider braces. Start by pre-drilling a hole next to the divider plywood where the brace is going to go.
8. Measure and cut a piece of 1/2 square board to fit between the back brace and the bottom. Glue that board, put it in place, and drill from the back through your pre-drilled hole into the board.
   

   Here you can see one divider has been braced and the other isn’t done yet.

9. Repeat this process for the other divider.
10. The front dividers should be the full height of the interior – in our case 26.25″ (remember you may have adjusted the hight of your bin for ease of scooping).
11. Keep your divider in place and measure from the sides to make sure it’s even with the back and not slanted. Then line your divider braces with glue and place it next to the divider. Because we didn’t want to see screws on the front of our feed bin, we installed these with finishing nails from the inside and only at the top and bottom where they would go into the exterior 2x4s and thus not be visible. If you don’t care about seeing screws, repeat the the process from steps 8 and 9.

Now your dividers are installed and your bin should look like this:

Supplement Shelf:

This step is actually super easy.

1. Cut your 1×10″ board to the width of the interior of your feed bin.
2. Place glue along the shelf braces.
3. Place the shelf on the braces.
4. Using finished nails to fully attach the shelf to the braces.

If you do as I say in these directions and don’t do as my husband did, your side braces won’t stick out past the shelf like our (he measured and cut them to fit under the shelf if pressed all the way against the back instead of to the back shelf brace). It’s functional though.

Top Construction:

This is another step where you’re going to want to measure your feed been and use your measurements, not exact measurements from me. I recommend placing your top board (a 1×12″ board) on top and places your hinges to see where you’d like to place your hinges. With two doors, we decided to space the hinges, about 1/4 of the way in from the side of each door. You might want to do 1/3 instead.

1. Once you’ve decided on where you want your hinges, you’ll need to add support beams for the hinges using 1×4″ boards cut to the width of your 1×12″ board less 2″.
   

   placed, but not cut do length yet

2. Here’s a sketch to better explain this:
3. Place your boards at your measurement spots for where you want your hinges. Glue and screw with 1″ screws. Repeat 4 times.
   

   Sorry this picture is washed out, but the 1×4″ board are not flush with the back because they will sit inside the frame.

4. Line the top of your feed bin with glue.
5. Flip your top board over, place on the top, pre-drill, and then screw from above.

Doors

Apparently I captured no pictures of door construction. However it’s pretty simple. Again, you may need to make adjustments for your own measurements.

1. Take two 1×12″ boards and cut them to the width of your feed bin (64 and 14/32″ in my case) and place them next to each other.
2. You’ll be placing four 1x4s across these two boards. You’ll need to use the same measurements as you did in your top construction to space out your cross beams. In our case, 7.5″ from the edge. 
3. The length of your 1x4s depends on your sawing abilities. If you can cut on an angle, the board’s should be the width of the two 1x12s pushed together, less 1″. If you can’t cut the board on an angle, make that length 2″ less.
4. Cut the 1x4s straight on the one side and at a 45 degree angle on the other.
5. Glue and screw your cross beams.
6. Measure and cut the boards apart in the middle to make 2 doors.
7. Set your doors on the feed bin and use 1.5″ screws to attach the hinges.
8. Screw handles onto doors in the middle of the bottom of each door.
9. We also added some twist latches to keep raccoons from opening the doors. This step is optional depending on your barn design (our feed room only has a half door).
   

   handles and latches

Final Steps

Paint or stain the outside of your feed bin. Do not paint or stain the inside as you don’t want the chemicals in paint or stain touching your horses’ feed. It’s a lot easier to do the painting and staining if you do it before putting the doors and hinges on (they’re annoying to get around). Our first bin was painted and it was infinitely easier than staining, but we wanted stain for this one to match the walls. I haven’t added white board to our new feed bin yet, but I plan to. They’re great for keeping track of what each horse is getting in feed and supplements.

When we made our first feed bin, I was concerned about rodents chewing through the wood. Despite being made of mostly thin plywood, we never had an issue. We had tons of rodents in our old tack room too as it was not a sealed room, but more of a roofed over and walled in section between the barn and hay trailer. I frequently found rodent dropping on the feed bin and at one point pulled a mouse nest out from under the bin (the ground wasn’t level so there was a gap), but we never had anything chew it’s way in. Since the room was enclosed enough to keep raccoons out, we didn’t need to have the latches and the weight of the doors kept them shut to smaller rodents. That feed bin is still going strong 7 years later so I can speak to the longevity of this style of DIY construction.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you make your own feed bin, please let me know. I love seeing what other people make whether they use my guides or not.

** I’m not a professional woodworker or professional anything for that matter. If you follow these directions, do so at your own risk.