Homemade Waterer.....With 5 gallon bucket???

[OCChicken]

Quote:
I made one and had the same issue, i'm thinking the lid isn't water tight. I'm going to silicone all but one of the 1/4 in holes and see if that helps.

 

[dipence71]

Ok I redid my bucket waterer. Here is what I did and it works great:

Drilled one hole about 1/4 in or so where I wanted water level.

bolted the plastic oil pan to the bucket and used silicone for water tight seal

Covered hole with finger and filled it up

Put lid on to get airtight seal and removed finger (MUST have airtight seal or will leak out all over)

let it fill and whala done woohoo!!!!

easy to clean and fill and cost less than $10 compaired to $50 -60+ for pre made one.

So I have two 5 gal waterers and two 5 gal feeders for less than one store bought waterer!!!!

 

[cackler]

Mine worked too today! With everyone's help on this forum of course!

We took an empty 5 gallon oil bucket. We left the original top on it that has a hole in the top with a lid for pouring the oil out. We drilled a hole about 3 1/2 inches from the bottom of the bucket because the pan that I bought from TSC is about 4 inches tall on the sides. When filling the bucket through the hole that's already in the top it fills really fast and it quits pouring out once the water level on the outside reaches just over the hole. It actually works really well.

The funny thing it it took a couple of mistakes to get this far - but looking on the bright side - now we have a couple of buckets to make feeders out of!

 

[Windwhistlefarm]

Would a clean 5 gallon paint bucket (has hole in the top) work as well? Did you replace "plug" in top of can after filling? America was built on ingenuity...now, we're rediscovering it (ingenuity)!

 

[cackler]

Mine looks pretty much like the pic that dipence 71 has. The hole is at the bottom just below water line in the outer pan and the lid is on the top - I'm able to fill mine through the opening there. I have the hole at the bottom plugged with my finger while filling it at the top otherwise unless you have really good water pressure it'll just run out.

It really does need to be airtight at the top in order for it to work.

 

[ams3651]

ok so i guess mine didnt work today because the bucket isnt air tight. it fits on tight but doesnt have any kind of rubber gasket in the lid like my "paint" bucket I use for oil does.

 

[consdrs]

Bucket lids are a weak point for this type of waterer. to overcome this you need to put the hole on the lid end of the bucket. then turn the whole thing over into your desired receptacle.

Connie

 

[ams3651]

i couldnt find anything big enough to put the top of the bucket in, only the bottom.

 

[kathyinmo]

Hooray, I got 3 free buckets today (but only 1 lid). Got them from Sonic and Burger King. My Walmart deli said they don't have them too often anymore. (???) I decided to try with my kitty litter buckets. I have 2 of them. Now, to find an oil pan or something. The large galvanized oil pan costs $14..... no way. The plastic oil pan I found at Walmart for $2. looks like it will not last long. Where else is there to look?

 

[Grammahen]

I'm thinking of buying a large plastic plant dish and flipping it upside down and putting it on the top of my bucket feeder. I thought I would screw it to the bucket cover or glue it. we got some rain... Will this work? What does everyone else do with their outside feeders in the rain?