Make your own Automatic Rain Water Drinking Center ---Tons of Photos!

[Steadfast]

I am concerned about my pipes freezing in winter...

My next question is this:

if i wrap the PVC pipes in black pipe insulation foam tubes,
will the chickens eat my foam?

if so...
what should I wrap the foam in?
Duct tape?

what do you guys think?

 

[waterchicken]

I think it's worth a try!

Tell me if it works tho.

 

[Strysa]

This is a must have. Wow terrific idea. I already have barrels can't wait to make one this spring.

 

[bakingintherain]

yay! i have been looking all over for pics of the system i want, so hubby will understand and help me build it

 

[CBarrett]

We tried the rain barrel idea first and didn't like it because no matter what we did the water would still get contaminated. Now our barrel is inside the coop and hubby devised a system that utilizes a float valve inside the barrel. A hose is hooked up to it from the well and only fills it up when the float valve drops. Endless, clean water at all times! And yes, we used pvc pipe with nipples in it as well. Our chickens are free range during the day and we have trays and short buckets around the property that catch rain water which they use while away from the coop.

 

[Hawgon]

I used your same basic deisgn and am building a system for my coop and run now..It is still in the test stage and none of the pipes are cemented yet just pressed together...My birds are only 2 weeks old so still have a little longer before it needs to be done...I am going to go with the nipples inside the run and I put an extra on/off valve on the outside of the run to fill buckets, draining system for cleaning or ?????? Pipes dont leak even when just pressed together so pretty excited to finish and paint it all black as well as I am going to use your idea of foam wrapping all the pipes outside the run....I think we are going to add ACV to our system to help keep it clean and building up goop....Nice job on yours and all comments and ideas are appreciated.......www.ustream.tv hawgon

 

[Steadfast]

I was having provblems with my chicken's water getting "Lakey"
(barely green with a slight "yuk" smell)
even after adding 3 table spoons of bleach a month to my 50 Gal barrel.

I purchased some sulfer based purifier from my local agri supply,
which worked, but it costs $30 month!!! OUCH!

So I did a little research and purchased an "Garden Hose Filter Clear" from
www.purewaterproducts.com

and the filter I put inside of it is called:
MatriKX CTO
"A free-flowing but very effective carbon block.
A versatile and inexpensive filter that works anywhere carbon filtration is needed."

When I called in to find out if 1.5 pounds of rain barrel pressure was enough to run the filter
The info gal there had no idea if it would work or not, but she steered me to this low water pressure item.
I received it in the mail and hooked it up and YES it works with 1.5 pounds of rain barrel pressure!

The water coming out of the system now has zero smell and is clear
The set up ran me $50 and the replacement filters will run me around $20 Per YEAR!

Here are the photos:

 

[beeconeofhope]

from what i read This is a great idea ! I cannot click on the pics so i typed em in the address bar and all i get it error on website cannot load , but ever since I decided i was gonna get me some chickens I Have been thinking about how to make a rain catch auto watering system for my girls I even installed a gutter system on the low end of the coop roof , I mean I have barrels of water stored for us humans and rain catches set up on our house for such reasons , seeings how if we loose power we aint got a well either I want my animals to be able to drink good water too Thanks so much for sharing

 

[oldrooster]

That is a fantastic setup......too bad it is against the law to collect you rain water in Colorado!

Believe it...I'm not making this up!! I moved here from Illinois and I have never heard of such stupidity!!!

Joe

BTW......my coop is almost done!

perhaps if you dig a hole big enough to bury a barrel and run the down spouts under the ground and use a hand pump to get the water back out....

 

[floridagirl13]

I remember hearing about that, illegal diversion of run off or some silliness like that right?

That is an amazing set up! I will have to attempt something similar, for sure! Also I will have to go back and read all the pages because this is very interesting!