40 years on.

[Bald Bee Man]

Glad to be here! I hope I can give as well as I take. I rotate biannually, then I sell or give away older hens, which means I need to replace old hens of one color with new ones of another color so catchers can take the right birds. With an underground water supply coming up in my coop floor, I don't need to deal with tanks or tubs, etc. My main question here is about water pressure to properly feed inline nipples. It looks like I need to be able to adjust pressure to dial in the right flow supply. Which regulator works best? Water column or inline mechanical?

I would go inline....

 

[Frottoir]

Welcome!
What do the big commercial operations do for winter water? It's all automatic, but how? Are their poultry houses heated to above freezing, at least?
Mary

I have been in one, and from my perspective it was pretty sad. It was kept above freezing. What struck me was the silence. 100,000 hens and barely a peep or squawk. Silence of the birds. My escort was a middle aged hispanic man whom the owner referred to as "the boy". His job was to "walk the deads". He did so by walking the lines of cages and pulling out dead birds and tossing them on the floor to scooped up later, All automatic feed and water troughs, egg catcher belts, poop shoots, egg depositing machines, etc. I thought of Auschwitz. My hens (150) listen to NPR all day and night (raccoons don't like the sound of human voices) and I talk to them every time I go into the coop. Do they care? Probably not, but I do. And I get $6/dozen.

 

[Frottoir]

Since you have water inside the coop now how do you keep the standpipe and or spicket from freezing?

Heat tape well installed. I shut it down from its source when it is really cold and then open the line long enough to fill watering tanks, then shut it off and drain it down again overnight. If I can get inline nipples running, I will just heat tape the whole line. If properly installed I believe it is safe and effective. I use it elsewhere and it has performed fine down to 15 below zero.

 

[Bald Bee Man]

One time I was at a property that had a Chicken House only had maybe 10,000 chickens but I could not hear a single sound that I was not that far from the building. I wondered then and I wonder now with your comment why do you think the chickens were so quiet?

 

[Folly's place]

Were they Cornishx birds? Those poor guys don't say much, or do much, except eat and rest their sore legs.
Mary

 

[speedy2020]

After 40 years of keeping layers, I now have come to realize that in order for me to attract more customers to my certified organic produce farm, I need to constantly have eggs for sale. In the past my flock has ranged from a dozen to 75 birds. Now I have increased that to 150-200. I have a great coop with a bin feeder, concrete floor. well sealed house and yard. electricity and water, etc. Water has always been the most labor intensive aspect of it all. Constant filling of founts and dealing with freezing temps (zone 6, SW Ohio). I am now in the process of designing and implementing a plumbed, heat taped, nipple drinking system so I can maybe leave the farm for a couple days at a time.

The 55gal or 275 gal water tank would be up your alley. The timer with auto-fill toilet like concept work well. Have you consider using the aquarium heater for winter?