Looking for help on chicken waterer

[SilkieAddict10]

I have been looking at different options for watering my flock. The water nipples and auto-fill cups sound the best to me. However, I am not sure how they would work in the winter. Our coop is going to be pretty far away from our house so it would be pretty hard to run a heater up there to keep the water from freezing. I am also not sure how well the other regular chicken waterers would work. I need something big and I am trying to find something that is cheaper because a lot of the waterers at the feed store are about $30-45.

 

[I Love Feather Babies]

I have been looking at different options for watering my flock. The water nipples and auto-fill cups sound the best to me. However, I am not sure how they would work in the winter. Our coop is going to be pretty far away from our house so it would be pretty hard to run a heater up there to keep the water from freezing. I am also not sure how well the other regular chicken waterers would work. I need something big and I am trying to find something that is cheaper because a lot of the waterers at the feed store are about $30-45.

I use the rubber ones from rural king/tractor supply. They come in different sizes. I use the 3 gallon size. Have 3 of them. In the winter I keep a hammer to bust up ice. I used the ones with nipples but they don’t work well in winter. Freeze up and when they thawed they leaked.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

This is what I use, it's been awesome for years. I know alot of people like the nipple things but when I see how much my chickens drink, I mean they literally stand there and drink and drink sometimes and it's SO essential to good health so I just don't feel like they'd get a good drink from the nipple things and in winter, you can put a cattle heater thing in this big blue bin as long as it's in the middle.

 

[SilkieAddict10]

This is what I use, it's been awesome for years. I know alot of people like the nipple things but when I see how much my chickens drink, I mean they literally stand there and drink and drink sometimes and it's SO essential to good health so I just don't feel like they'd get a good drink from the nipple things and in winter, you can put a cattle heater thing in this big blue bin as long as it's in the middle.
View attachment 3498907
View attachment 3498908

This looks really nice! The little cup automatically refills, right? Would I need a heater for this one if I just pulled out the ice two or three times a day during the winter? What if I used a bucket that had a couple nipples on it and one of these cups? Would that work fine?

 

[SandyRiverChick]

This looks really nice! The little cup automatically refills, right? Would I need a heater for this one if I just pulled out the ice two or three times a day during the winter? What if I used a bucket that had a couple nipples on it and one of these cups? Would that work fine?

Cups refill, yes. They have a little screen on them on the inside which is great and I put my own screen over the barrel top to keep junk out including chickens! In winter I do what you said until it's just to frozen, that's when I just haul a few gallons of hot water every morning when I go out. You can use these cups on any size bucket, you just drill the holes and secure the cups.