Little Giant Automatic Water Bowl

[ecow]

We love the Little Giant and have all three sizes. Easy to clean since we have them hanging from rubber hoses. Just swirl the dirt and dump it out and walk away. No toting water! We have one connected to a 55 gallon drum and the rest to the faucet. The faucet is not the recommended method since hoses do burst occasionally and you could waste considerable water before you found out.

 

[wefrf]

We are looking at ordering one of these and had a couple of questions.

We live in Arizona and are concerned about the sumer heat. We have 4 chickens, what size should we get, the 2 pint (2500) or the 1 1/2 qt (2550)?

Also should we get the Bowl Guard for Poultry Fount to keep the water clean?

This site has the best prices I could find http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/powa.html

 

[Poison Ivy]

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I have the 2550's and they are more then enough for the birds I have. I bought mine on sale and got the bigger ones because price was the same as the smaller ones.
I don't have the covers for mine they are fine. I just take a bottle/glass brush to clean mine with. You will love them once you have them. No more carrying water to your pens.

 

[ekemily]

I am also interested in the little giant automatic watering fountain, but have a few questions:
1. Is is easy to hook it up to a hose full time?
2. Does it spray water continually and overflow, or does it regulate itself so that there won't be any water spilling over all the time?
thanks for your help!

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

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[Cluckhead]

I just installed one two weeks ago and love it!

 

[Peruvian]

We've been raising 50-60 broilers a year for 4 years now and have used the plastic gallon waterers in the brooder and this hanging water in the hoop tractor.

With 30 birds at a time, they go through water very quickly. Pressured by an upcoming vacation and birds in the brooder and tractor, I had to find a better system. I ran across this thread and others and ordered the LG waterers from Cutler Supply (about $18 each plus $10 shipping). Other than overcharging for shipping (flat rate box was only $6), they arrived fast and I'm pleased with Cutler.

I bought 6' of 1/2" PVC pipe, a few elbows, and male/female ends. I also bought the garden hose to 1/2" reducer. All found in our small local hardware store.

Now we can turn on the garden hose while away (plenty of time in advance to check for leaks, etc) and know the birds won't go thirsty.

The brooder chicks just arrived today so we are still using the gallon waterer, but I set up the auto system, easy as pie.

In the tractor, I nailed some pipe hangers (for hanging copper tubing below floor joists) horizontally to the wooden upright, to hold the waterer away from the side and give it some stability.

Here it is showing the entire tractor (hanging in the back).

This will make it much easier. I also grabbed a stretch of plastic gutter so I can pour food into the feeder from a bucket outside and I no longer have to walk through their poop!!!

Why didn't I think of this sooner.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

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You know this waterer was never designed to hung. The strain on the handle could break the welds and galvanizing that make it air tight.
No doubt that some may never leak when used in this way.
In addition to that the narrow and shallow trough design could not prevent much water sloshing out when the water swings from being bumped hard enough by birds crowding it.
The water level they maintain is just to deep. Plus the fact if they are swumg far enough that the water gets out of the way and air can enter the cannister even more will come out.
The only hanging waters used by the industry today look like this-

They can be adjusted so they only have 1/2" of water in the trough.

 

[KDK1]

Am I the only one to have bought a lemon LG waterer? After a month or so of fighting with Miller Mfg. and spending more money for another post (from McMurrey) it finally works like it's supposed to.

 

[Peruvian]

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Worked for 4 years without breaking, leaking, spilling, or sloshing.

As for the industry standard...that's not really what I'm striving for.