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

[perchie.girl]

Quote:

No, it doesn't leak there....the internal mechanism sticks and all the water come out thru the cup. It just overfills continuously until all the water is gone and on your coop floor.

Ah....

Id be really curious to see what the internal mechanism looked like...
deb

 

[Scott H]

I took it apart and fixed it once.... water was clean, no debris...it has a small float with a pointy thing on it that plugs the hole to the water container....it rides up and down in two grooves. The float must get cocked in there....it worked , or I thought it was working, water wasn't overflowing the cup....checked it and the thing was bone dry. This time of year they can get water outside the coop so it wasn't too much of a hardship on the girls. Took it apart and could NOT see anything amiss, put it back together and it started overflowing again.....I'm done, learned a $15 lesson, but if anyone else wants to try one, be my guest. I need some reliable water, not having to wonder if the girls are wading around in their coop or staring at 4 gallons of water but not being able to get at it!

 

[LittleBits]

Quote: Well now - here's another problem: lol I fixed the expansion nut and it worked fine, but still taking the lid off and on to fill. Obviously, these lids are not made to last very long and there is a crack or 2 in it, which has broken the seal when it is on. The water flows and flows because it's not airtight. So I fill it up, and it runs out the hole at the bottom until the water level is even w/ the hole...

So . . .
back to Square One! I'm going to find a laundry or restaurant or somewhere that has big plastic containers and ask for one . . . but it will have to have a screw on lid at the top!! Gotta go to a bigger town though, so for now, back to filling the water almost every day.

Any suggestions or do you all think this cannot be fixed except to replace? (Short on $$.)

 

[SD Bird Lady]

Good places to find buckets are also hotels, nursing homes, hospitals, and restaurants. Basically any place that does dishes or laundry for a large number of people and needs to worry about being sterile. Hopefully you can find a few buckets to fit your needs.

 

[renardsubtil]

Watering cups coupled with my gravity PVC water container.

It's a simple design, just a 4" wide PVC pipe (12"high) with a cheap cap at the top and a normal PVC end cap on the bottom end that has some thickness to it. I had to glue the bottom cap onto the pipe using the sealer glue you would normally use to shore up the grout in a shower stall. Total cost was probably $15 or so. I actually bought a 3' long PVC pipe to use for the waterer and a gravity feeder which cost $16...so the pricey stuff was the watering cup ($4) and the end caps ($6).

I took a 3/8(?) drill bit to drill into the end cap. Then took the chicken water cup and wrapped the threads with teflon piping tape and screwed it into the hole I had made.

I chose black because I read that it helps keep the algae growing in the container (no light) and I put a teaspoon of apple vinegar in the water. I've had this waterer for a week now and I haven't have to fill it up but then again I only have two hens.

Here's a small video of my hens using the cups. There's two cups on the waterer because they don't share very well lol!

 

[refamat]

Ah....

Id be really curious to see what the internal mechanism looked like...
deb

The vertical nipples are simpler with just two rods and a ball, the horizontal also use a spring behind the ball to close it back up.
My water is quite hard and deposits cause the vertical nipples to stick. I fix this by every couple week manually working the rods back and forth to break off the deposits. Might work as well for the horizontal units, or even soaking in CLR or similar once a month or when needed

 

[deserthomestead]

The vertical nipples are simpler with just two rods and a ball, the horizontal also use a spring behind the ball to close it back up.
My water is quite hard and deposits cause the vertical nipples to stick. I fix this by every couple week manually working the rods back and forth to break off the deposits. Might work as well for the horizontal units, or even soaking in CLR or similar once a month or when needed

Would ACV or a bit of white vinegar in the water prevent build-up? My water is extremely hard as well.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: I was going to suggest just that. Vinegar is a great solvent for Calcium and lime. Good for hardwater deposits in the shower too.... LOL. Even if the product is all plastic all the water has to do to deposite calcium is evaporate a little.

deb

 

[LittleBits]

Good places to find buckets are also hotels, nursing homes, hospitals, and restaurants. Basically any place that does dishes or laundry for a large number of people and needs to worry about being sterile. Hopefully you can find a few buckets to fit your needs.

Ah, a nursing home and hospital - never thought of those places. We have a very small one of each in town! So I'll be calling them tomorrow! I did find a very cheap lid at Walmart - $1.17 - and it's not one of those normal 5 gal bucket lids - so I'll try it, too. Thanks for the suggestions! Can't find CORKS around here anywhere!

 

[bjones1128]

OK, nothing game-changing about this but I just thought I'd share. My wife had a yard stick that picked up from a lighting store sitting around so I decided to screw it into stud. This way I can tell how deep the litter is getting.

Good idea! Eventually you would know when it was time to really clean it out.