Oh man, totally! I did the same thing with a bucket and some PVC elbows. It was a night and day difference. Before that, the chickens would scratch half their feed into the dirt and it would just get nasty. Now it stays dry and clean, and I swear they actually eat more of it because it's not all trampled. The ground method just makes a buffet for every pest around.
How many elbows did you end up using per bucket? I tried a two-elbow setup but they still managed to flick some feed out the top when they got excited. Wondering if a third elbow pointing straight down would stop that, or if it would make it too hard for them to get the feed out.