Best way to water the flock? - Page 9

This shows the top of the water tower that I built to supply my chickens with water. You can see the whole series of photos showing how I built it at http://www.southernagrarian.com/a-water-tower-for-the-chickens/

Since our well water has such a high mineral content, anything that uses small metal valves will be ruined in a matter of months. This tower supplies the plastic drinker cups, and that works very well for this situation.

im curious,  why are ya'll building towers?  is your waters up hill or something.  the containment system does not need to be so high to work.

True, it does not need to be that high to work - as long as everything else is working well. I like to be able to flush out the lines every once in a while, and a bit more pressure helps that along. Part of it is simply over-engineering on my part, and I readily admit to that.

i see.   thankyou.

All the talk against running a garden hose down a fenceline and attaching to a float system in the coop befuddles me. You're not filling individual drink glasses with water directly from the hose, so the water being hot is irrelevant. If the float is positioned in a small vessel like a 5 gal bucket set into the ground or cut down for the desired height based on your breed, once a chicken drinks a small amount of water, a small amount of water is then allowed past the float valve and that HOT water then mixes with the much larger volume of tank water and is immediately cooled to a reasonable temp. It's not a problem for me here in Arkansas to run a 100' hose down my fenceline to a "stall waterer" with a float, sold for horses, that holds about 4 gals and the rim is about 12" high, perfect for my RIR flock. And no poopie contamination either!! Oh, and I like the aquarium water heater idea mentioned previously and will be trying that this winter, when I'll be using a more manual watering system.

Dinger, I think a few of us have way farther than 100 feet to go. If I could attach a simple 100 foot hose, I would do it, but I've got over 200' distance and would be crossing across the lawn from where my hose bib is. It just wouldn't work for me! The hose would heat up in the sun, etc.

So, some of us have barrels that can provide us with water in these instances. It's just NOT a one size fits all situation I guess you could say.

before i run a hose 200 ft. above ground, exposed or even 100'  . id dig a trench,  and bury some PEX plumbing and run it from the house to where ever i had to go.  thats what i did when i ran water out to my barn.  i rented a ditch witch,  dug a trench over 200'   buried a 3/4 pex line and  some under ground cable for electrical power in same trench.   cable goes another 40 ft in the house to the panel box,  pex is attached to the closes cold water copper line in the house. 

water sitting in a rubber hose isnt the best water to be consuming.

Thanks! I have a stack of split cedar roofing that I will be adding to the sides to give it a more rustic look. My original idea was to make it look similar to the old windmill-supplied water tower on the farm where my dad was raised. That's one of those projects that just hasn't made it to the top of the priority list yet.

if ya'll want to really do it up right. get you an old whiskey barrel...oak staves with iron type rings set it up vertical on your lil towers.   get that  old west rustic look.