I made a home made feeder - Cost around 7 bucks :)

[GwenDellAnno]

I use this for water. With my 8 hens and 1 roo, I need to fill it about once weekly. (More often if they are kicking around a lot of dust and the water itself can get a bit brown). The tin with the light bulb under it keeps it from freezing.... although with any sunshine at all during the day my coop gets well above freezing and retains alot of heat through the night. So there haven't been very many days (so far) this winter where the coop has actually been below freezing for long.

 

[enola]

I like that waterer !

 

[2txmedics]

Gwen can u get a better pic of the waterer? how does it work in the inside, I mean more detailed...looks interesting...thanks!

 

[MIKE555444]

Quote:
At a glance it looks complicated but when you look closely it wouldn't be that tough to make.

Looks like the 5 gal bucket serves two purposes. First to hold the water jug up straight and second to provide the water pan at the bottom. With out the 3"(?) PVC pipe the water jug would drop to the bottom of the bucket and stop the flow of water. The PVC pipe length appears to control the water level.

Please let us know GwenDellAnno if this is how it works? BTW way thanks for sharing

I hope you don't mind GwenDellAnno I pulled this pic from your home page and blew it up a little.

 

[GwenDellAnno]

No, it's not difficult at all. I got the idea from a pet waterer I bought with a smaller blue bottle. The key is that the water will only come out just far enough to cover the bottom of the neck of the bottle. After that the "vaccuum" holds the remaining water inside. As the chickens drink the water down, the vaccuum seal is broken (once the water level sloshes below the bottom of the neck) and a little more water drains out (and a bit of corresponding air bubbles in) until the bottom section is filled back up over the neck of the bottle, resealing the vaccuum. Along the same lines, make sure that you don't cut the bottom of the holes too low. The water needs to be able to rise far enough to seal the neck of the bottle without flowing out of the holes. (Otherwise you lose the whole 5 gallons of water on the floor of the coop).

So all it is, is the bottle and the 5 gallon pail.

The trick for me was to find a pail and a bottle that fit together nicely. The neck of the bottle rests off the bottom of the bucket by about 1/2". I suppose if you couldn't find a pail and a bottle that did fit so nicely, you could try the pvc pipe as shown in the picture with red pail previously. It would do the job of holding the neck of the bottle up off the bottom of the bucket about the same distance. Here is a closeup picture.

I fill the bottle, put the bucket on upsidedown and then carry it out to the coop (fairly easy to carry without water sloshing out). I do a quick flip (if I'm quick enough I don't lose any water) onto a crate and then carefully lift it onto the tin heater once the water is up to level.

That's all there is to it. The cost of the water bottle (I happened to have a few just sitting around anyways) and the bucket (I also had a bunch of those sitting around. So for me it was essentially "free" made from recycled stuff I had sitting around. And what I love about it the most is not having to worry about changing water every day. I know they say "super-clean" water is essential, but unless there are wood chips floating around in it, I don't think it's too much of a problem (at least I haven't had any). And with this arrangement, I have not had any wood chips in the water even with all their dust bathing and fluttering around.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Looked at those pet waterers last week at WalMart. Showed the kids. Alraedy have a bucket ready and using.... just never made the conection to use a five gallon jug in our bucket. Thanks!

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Here is what the store bought version looks like. It only holds about a half gallon of water. Be great for bantam breeding pens.

 

[GwenDellAnno]

The big thing I have against the store bought one is that it is open and so it likely will collect more wood chips and "dirt" in the water bowl part.... thus a need to clean/replace more often. (Oh, that and the size.... for me).

 

[Backyard_Chicken_rancher]

I like this waterer idea for sure but if I may add has anyone thought about getting the "clear Plastic Table cloth Cover" from Wal-mart in the craft section then cut it into strips and glue it onto the inside of the bucket to keep dirt and wood chips out of?

The Chicken sticks it's head in the hole moving the plastic but when done getting a drink it closes when they move out of the way..

 

[GwenDellAnno]

I hadn't really thought of that. If I had a problem with woodchips and "big" dirt, I might consider it. As it is, the only dirt that gets in there right now is the really fine dust that comes from their dust bathing in the "dirt" box. I can't see plastic strips stopping that as it gets everywhere (almost literally). So I just keep an eye on it and if it gets too muddy looking I clean it out.