Best way to water the flock? - Page 2

I'm sure you saw my other post on the water pressure required.  Are they actually leaking, or are the birds just making a mess because the nipples are supplying too much water when triggered?  I would think that they shouldn't leak even under a couple of feet of water column pressure.  Actually, the higher pressure should help them to seal shut even better.  It could be that there is debris starting to clog up the nipples allowing them not to seal properly, especially since you are collecting water from the roof and not filtering it.  The valve is actually a small ball that sits on a machined seat.  When the nipple is pushed to one side the top of the nipple unseats the ball and allows the water to flow down the nipple.  Debris can collect between the ball and the seat, causing the ball to not seat properly.

We use commercially made nipple watering lines.  It is recommended to filter the water.  We have a 5 micron cartridge filter where the water enters the barn.  They are also made so that the user can bypass the regulator and flush out the lines with regular water pressure.  We turn a ball valve on the regulator which bypasses the regulator and the high pressure pushes open a spring loaded valve at the other end of the line which has a hose connected that exits the barn.  Once a week I flush the lines to help blow out any debris, bio-film, and loose mineral deposits.

The homemade waterers work, but there are some nuances there that you have to deal with, such as varying water pressures and there being no easy way to clean the lines.  If you think there is junk in the lines, you may just have to remove the nipples and tap on them and rinse them to get any debris out.  While the nipples are out let the water run through your supply pipe to flush any debris.

Here are some photos I took today.

The barrel is about 42 inches in height I would guess, and I have it sitting on blocks beside the coop to get it up higher than the the nipple waterer line. The drain from the barrel (which is at the base of it), is about 6 inches higher only than the PVC line containing the nipples. You can pretty much see the whole thing in this photo. You can see that I have the gutter spout pointing into the top of the barrel (do take note that my roof is the corrugated plastic and not roofing shingles. You don't want to use roof runoff from shingles to water chickens, as there are all sorts of harmful chemicals in roof shingles). As I said, I got my barrel on Craig's List. You can also get these barrels for free if you visit your local car wash, as this is what car wash soap comes in.

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In this photo, you can see an upclose shot of the pipe I have going from the barrel to the nipple line. I chose to do a clear rubber hose on this part so I see the water moving to the line. It has a bit of a hump in the hose at the moment, but I need to raise my PVC pipe a bit since the girls are now taller.

http://i918.photobucket.com/albums/ad27/koikeepr/CIMG2979.jpg

Here's the nipple line. Just 1/2" pipe with the nipples screwed in. Several of the nipples are leaking and i'm assuming it's because it's a lot of water in the barrel. I wanted to try to watering cups, but I hear those are actually worse under pressure. I may just go to the hardware store and buy a pressure reducer, but I'm baffled by needing this as the water is gravity fed and not coming off a hose. Again, I can only assume that it's a lot of water on a small pipe. You can see how the lattice behind my hardware cloth is wet as is the ground beneath the nipples.

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Mac, the barrel has been filled with water from the hose for just one week. In fact the leaking started immediately on those 2 nipples.

To answer all your questions:

1. Make the hole in the barrel slightly smaller than the drain, and then you kinda screw it in. After you've got it in there, I use a bead of P&L Roofing Sealant (in the roofing department at your hardware store). P&L is a fish safe black type of "caulk" that I use in my gallon 5,000 koi pond, so I know it is animal safe (called the company to find out, and it's just rubber). You work that in with a gloved finger (it's highly staining!) on both sides and after 24 hours you are ready for water.

2. Take note that the there is a hole on the top with a brass fitting. That's an overflow, so if it ever rains too much, the water at that upper point will simply pour outta the barrel. I just need to put a short piece of hose in it so it drains away from the coop.

3. I do have a screw end on one side so I can clean out the pipe with the nipples, so that is recommended indeed.

4. The nipples I have are the screw in type, so you make the hole and simple twist 'em in. I then caulked all around the base of the screw point to prevent leakages from that area.

5. I have that mosquito screening on the top of the barrel, so they can't get in there to lay eggs. So, no, haven't had any trouble with that.

In my case, I do think the fact that the barrel is so large causes pressure on the nipples, so I'm going to buy a pressure regulator to help with that. I'm happy with the system, it just still need some tweaks. With water so far from my coop, it works in that it prevents my having to lug buckets of water.