How do you water them???

[CountryFried]

My "coop" is almost done, we finished the wire today (all hardware cloth!), I just need to put latches on the gates/doors, and then the enclosure itself is done, WOOHOO!!!!!! I have 4" PVC to build a feeder out of tomorrow, but I cannot figure how to do the water. The area is about 25' by 25' and I *think* I'm going to section it off, one section for Silkies, one for my 7 teenagers, and then one for the babies coming next week, but I need H2O!

So...how do you do water? I don't need to worry about it freezing, so any suggestions/ideas are welcome! (Last resort is 5g waterers from TSC, but I would prefer a solution where I don't have to carry that much water, long-term, there will be 40-ish chickens in there)

 

[nelgkel]

I just got a rain barrel and hooked up pvc pipe to it and have 5 nipple waterers...they love it!
will post pics soon

 

[Cargo]

Nipple waterers are da bomb!

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

Nipples!!!!!!! Yes Yes Yes!!!!!

 

[CountryFried]

Quote:
Please do post pics!

How high up do the nipples need to be? Any way to attach them to PVC? I may section my coop into 3 or 4 separate areas and would need to get water to all sections. How many chickens per nipple? (I'm planning to long term have about 25, but that will vary with meat birds, too)

 

[CountryFried]

Further research, LOL. I ordered 30 nipples from QC Supply, so if anyone can assist with pictures of setups, particularly those with long PVC pipe, I would be in heaven!

 

[AkTomboy]

Do a quick search on here for nipple waterers and you will see lots of picts! I have a 30 gal setup for my 40+ birds

 

[Cargo]

For winter you can add heat and a recirculating pump. It is pretty easy if you plan ahead for it.
You can also purchase a pre-made setup:

http://www.bassequipment.com/Waterers/Freez-X,+Thermocube+/default.aspx

 

[CountryFried]

Quote:
Winter won't be an issue, we don't get below freezing very often, and I can just drain the system and use bucket waterers on those nights. I'm just trying to figure out how I could run PVC pipe down one wall (roughly 25') and have the water bucket be outside of the coop to get it closer to my spigot LOL. (I'm not very good at coming up with stuff like this, that's why I poach others' ideas for them, sigh.)

 

[justbugged]

I bought an automatic water, We have it hooked up with a hose. So far it has worked great, and I know it's was worth the 36.00 dollars we spent on it.