5 gallon bucket waterer question

[LD Jackson]

I have been doing a lot of reading on how to use a 5 gallon bucket to water my chickens. Most of the instructions say to turn the bucket upside down in a pan, after drilling the holes near the top to allow the water to flow into the pan. I have a bucket that was used to hold hydraulic fluid (it has been steam cleaned in a parts washer) that has a snap on lid with a spout that can be pushed into the lid. This spout has a plastic cap that snaps into place. I have in mind to drill the holes near the bottom of the bucket, making sure they are lower than the top of the pan it will sit in, and just sit the bucket in the pan. This will keep me from trying to flip a 5 gallon bucket full of water over without spilling water everywhere. Do you think the lid on this bucket, which has to be beat on with a mallet, and the spout cap will seal tight enough to prevent the water from overflowing the pan?

 

[briteday]

I had a similar set up because I'm not strong enough to routinely turn over a full 5 gallon bucket of water. I had the lid on top and banged it down with a mallet, opened the pour hole to fill. It works fine. But eventually I bought some nipples, installed them on the bottom,my husband installed a toilet float valve, attached it to a garden hose (works great most of the year when we don't have freezing temps), and now we don't have to fill water most of the year...just keep the hose turned on very low to keep the bucket full. In the winter we put either an aquarium heater (cheapest one at Walmart been using for 4 year now) or a bird bath heater in the bucket, but disconnect the hose. We take out a gallon of water in the morning and night, seems to be enough to keep it constantly full.

 

[LD Jackson]

Quote:
Thanks for the reply and the information. Just wondering, did you attach the bucket to the pan or just set it inside the pan and let the weight of the water hold it in place?