Winfree Bryant students’ chicken feeder wins national award - Main Street Media of Tennessee

Winfree Bryant Middle School sixth graders Kenzie Johns and Anna Smithhiser have been named tops in the nation for their chicken feeder invention.

The Chick, Chick Food is a five-gallon bucket chicken feeder with rainproof poultry feeders attached to the sides.

The two are part of the school’s EXTEND (Exciting Times Exploring New Directions) program, which was headed by current Winfree Bryant Middle School counselor Amanda Woods.

“EXTEND is a pull-out program for gifted/talented students in grades 3-8 in LSSD. Students are encouraged to think creatively while encouraging effective cognitive thinking and problem-solving skills independently and as a part of a team,” Woods said.

In addition to winning first place in the agriculture category, Johns and Smithhiser won the Industry Innovation Award for Agriculture for all grades (kindergarten through 12th. They also were named second overall for their grade across all categories entered in the invention convention competition.

“The feeders attached to the sides of the bucket allow chickens to get their food without wasting it. The bucket lid has a hole with a test cap in it so you don’t have to open your bucket to put more feed inside and the feed inside will stay dry,” they said.

A metal dowel in the middle has a fan blade attached to it to stir the feed when moving in a counterclockwise direction. At the bottom of the metal dowel there is a small metal pole that is bent so it will stir the feed underneath the feeders. The hand crank is the metal dowel attached to a rotating hand crank. This invention will make life easier for farmers and chickens who don’t have to worry about crusty, chicken food.

It took them a couple of weeks to come up with the invention and they did so after asking teachers around their school about some of the problems they faced with their chickens.

The most common problem was crusty and clumped chicken feed, they said. Creation and modifications took a few months and then after being invited to Nationals, more revisions were made that took another couple of months. The entire process from start through nationals was 11 months.

“In fourth grade I invented the remote tracker, which allowed you to always be able to find your remote control by making a beeping noise when you would hit a button to locate it,” Johns said. “My group won Judge’s Favorite.

“In fifth grade, I created the Hydration Helmet which was a bike helmet that had a water bladder attached to the top so when people were riding their bike, they could drink water while they were riding instead of having to stop to drink,” Smithhiser said.

For the state convention, they worked on their invention mainly in school, they said. They started the Invention Convention at the beginning of September and the state convention was in February. At the state convention, they won first place for Agriculture and an invitation to compete in Nationals in June.

The nationals took place at the Henry Ford Museum, in Dearborn, Michigan. They had to create a four-to five-minute video about our invention.

“We (also) had to continue our logbook, which was a way to express our thoughts about our invention and the process it took to make it,” they said. “We also had to make our speech two minutes longer than at the state level.”

Because they placed first in the national convention, they also competed internationally, through Zoom meetings with judges who had already seen their video.

“Even though we didn’t win, it was good for us to get to talk to some inventors and judges from Mexico and have the opportunity to compete against them,” they said.

They said they will try to patent it so they can sell their invention in stores like Home Depot, Harbor Freight, Tractor Supply, and maybe even on Amazon.

Woods said she has 25 years of teaching experience, but that was her first year teaching Extend.

“As a parent, my daughter has participated in LSSD’s Extend Program, so I am very familiar with the Invention Convention,” she said.

When Johns and Smithhiser won, Woods said, “I was absolutely overjoyed. It was a great idea, and they worked diligently to create the prototype. Their well-rehearsed verbal presentation sold it. These girls are brilliant and driven. It was a well-deserved win.”