DIY Thread - Let's see your "Inventions".

[Ms Jellybean]

IF you had one of those fancy heated hoses!

Heated hose? They make those?

My system will be a 5 gallon bucket and gravity fed. We do get below freezing here so I can heat the bucket water, but I've read the nipples and even the cups can freeze. What would be a good solution?

I can always use a heated dog dish.... The idea of making the chickens poke their head through wire to drink is an option too. What size wire is big enough the chickens don't get their heads stuck, or do you use something like a cattle guard size?

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:

I have some of the same concerns over nipple systems. With the regard to the natural way chickens drink.

But I do understand the other point of view. Bowl or waterer cleaning is a daily task and if not maintained as it could affect the health of your birds.

Leakage is a fault of application of the product.... either inferior product or too high pressure or faulty installation process.
That being said I do use an automatic watering system. Built by myself. I use bowls with floats designed for livestock. They handle house hold pressure as well as low pressure delivered by a gravity system. They look clunky but I have never had a failure from the mechanism.

Leakage and water spillage can be addressed by building a wire based platform for the chickens to stand on and drink from. Raising the water up off the floor of the coop by several inches. Then placing gravel or rocks underneath Ideally with a tray under the rocks to deliver spillage down a drain of some sort. This will work for nipple waterers too.

I find the most of the "dirt in the water" issues could be served if I can move the water outside of the coop entirely. Allowing the chickens to drink through bars or wire that wont allow them to put anything in the water trough except heads. Like the waterers they use on brooders for baby chicks at the feed store.

All this is to accomodate my climate my chicken raising operation.... I live where its very hot and dry 100s+ in the summer and very cold and dry 30s in the winter. Even though I see freezing temps at my place it rarely freezes over the water containers

deb

I would like to just add.... if you missed the part about the drain for the basket to catch the water DON'T skip that part. if you just use a pan it will cause you LOADS of problems..... cocci is one.

Nope see the blue.... LOL. Sorry I get verbose some times. I am in Writing mode right now... Dang book...

deb
I knew you had it in there.... I didn't want people to skip that part!

 

[Leahs Mom]

Quote:
Problem I see with them having to stick their face through a small opening into one of the dog bowls is that as the water level goes down, they can no longer reach it.

I used the cups and the necks freeze if it goes below 19 F even with a fish tank heater in the water keeping the bucket literally luke-warm. But if your temps stay above that, a 50 w submersible fish tank heater works well since it keeps the water warmer than the bird-bath/pond deicers.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: You can plumb them directly with pvc If you want but the set up as I have it wouldnt work for climates that have extended cold periods.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: Yep they are pricey though.... I have friends in Michigan and Ohio that have them for giving water to their horses.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:

.....

deb

I would like to just add.... if you missed the part about the drain for the basket to catch the water DON'T skip that part. if you just use a pan it will cause you LOADS of problems..... cocci is one.

Nope see the blue.... LOL. Sorry I get verbose some times. I am in Writing mode right now... Dang book...

deb
I knew you had it in there.... I didn't want people to skip that part!
Oh gossh I am a dufus....My apologies.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: I have set my feeder once by the chainlink while I opened the door Looked down and everyone was eating through the chainlink. Others were waiting their turn LOL. Thats where I got the idea. I am planning on using either welded wire spaced two by three OR bars made of half inch pvc. The bars would be easier on their feathers and heads if they got to jostling for what ever reason.

Also I always use waterers or feeders that stay full so reaching down into a bucket wouldnt be an issue,

deb

 

[LindaB220]

lol! Cattle panel hoop coop?! I'll have to search that! Hope you post pics along the way!

There's a bunch of them on here. Check out the first 2-3 pages of Meat birds Etc / Fermented feeds for meat birds. Beekissed has the perfect setup for me. Cattle panels are less than $20 ea and I will only need 3 for a 9x12 hoop coop. Easy peasy.

 

[aart]

You can plumb them directly with pvc If you want but the set up as I have it wouldnt work for climates that have extended cold periods.

deb

Well....... the discussion *was* about freezing climates.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Wanted to show my secondary waterer in case it would give anyone some inspiration. Had to have a second waterer for the 16 week olds for various reasons.

This is a 1 quart heated dog waterer. I DON'T LIKE OPEN WATERERS IN WINTER due to concern of frostbite...mistakenly stepping in a bowl of water and wattles hanging into the water in the olders - so I always offer "restricted opening" waterers in the winter. Therefore I won't use a heated dog bowl just open.

This 1 quart bowl is filled with grit to make a base for the jar waterer to set securely on. Then I put water into the bowl full of grit then set the jar waterer on top of the grit. The water conducts the heat to the jar waterer. It has been working well. That is a 5 lb. honey jar rather than a quart. Holds quite a bit more water.

Even though these are chick watering bases, my adults will drink from them also.








The main waterer is my glass waterer on the heater base I made from the larger dog bowl heater. I put some red electrical tape on the glass bowl so that it was more of a visible cue for the girls. It's a half-gallon canning jar. (I posted how I made both the base and the waterer earlier in the thread.)


You can see how the bricks it sits on are spaced apart so that the cord and the ridges on the bottom of the base sit down in the space so that it sets securely.



ETA - credit to Scott for the inspiration to use the grit in the blue bowl for a stable base!