I'm interested in making an alternative water system for my chickens; they have just a shallow bucket right now and it gets nasty with them standing in it and pooping in it and dropping food in it...does anyone have photos/links/instructions about how to make one of these "nipple watering systems" that a lot of people on here seem to like? I need something to water 50-100 birds. Thanks!
Hi Ariel301: I have an automatic nipple watering system. I only have six birds, but a system like mine is completely expandable. I have water plumbed into a cooler and a float valve from an evaporative (swamp) cooler keeps the water reservoir filled. From the bottom I have a straight piece of 1/2" pvc coming out horizontally with a nipple every foot or so and a cap on the end. That's it. You can find the parts at your local Home Depot. You'll want to be able to take it all apart, so think about the different fittings you'll need. It's like putting together a puzzle. You can use anything for the reservoir, I chose a cooler to put in frozen gallon milk jugs of water and keep the water cold. Now that's what I've done. You can also do it much more simply by just putting nipples in the bottom outside edge of a 5 gal. bucket with a lid and vent and putting all that on a concrete block. Real cheap and effective. I'm going to make some of these for distributing around the yard. Check out my BYC page to see a pic of my system: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=56638
i use a little giant poultry fountain( in the link below) and it says i waters 300 birds per fountain i have around 100 birds and it works for me i have it hooked up to a 45 gallon water bucket that is gravity feed to the fountain hope that helps link http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/automatic-game-bird-fount.html
I personally LOVE my nipple water. I was very skeptical about it at first, unsure if my chickens would be able to figure it out- and they sure have!!! I adore it!!
Here is how I made mine-
I ordered four nipples from farmtek (I'm sure you could get cheaper ones, I know a BYCer sells them, but I forget his name), and I found an old cat litter bucket to use. I used a 8.73 drill bit to make four initial holes, then simply put a little construction glue (most any glue would work) around the edges of the hole. From there- all it took was screwing in the nipples and letting it dry! Simple! This would be easy to expand by using a LARGE bucket connected to a PVC pipe that goes out into the coop area, and the nipples drilled into the PVC pipe. It's my future plan for once I get out of the city.
One fill up lasts for WEEKS, I try to change it every few days and keep ACV in it too, but the girls are very happy with it- and so am I! I can leave for a few days without worrying about their water supply one bit!
Another great thing is that for the winter- all you have to do is put an aquarium heater in it- and you have no freezing issues! Hooray!
Good luck!
Here are a few pictures of my chickens using the waterer!
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I had something similar but while I could cool the water in the 5 gal bucket w/float, I couldn't keep the water in the line cool, so I just use the 5 gal buckets w/3 nipples in the bottom. The one in the grow out coop is on several blocks so I can adjust height as needed.
I start my chicks out w/a nipple right away so they are totally used to it. I have several sizes of these for brooder use.
I love the idea of using a cooler, though. I use 2 liter bottles filled 3/4 up with water/ice to cool off the water. I checked out your page and am very impressed. Love love love the grapevine covered run. I need to do that w/mine.
