Make your own - No waste - 5 gallon (25# feed) bucket feeder for about $3

[COChix]

Can I make one of these for water
to
cheers

Check out this thread for a lot of the how to with vertical nipples. I switched over and have never looked back. Two day old chicks picked it up no problem.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...r-very-easy-heated-waterer-for-under-20-bucks

 

[Husker Hens]

I second the horizontal nipples! Planning to switch any new chicks over after their first week or so and never use anything else. MeepBeep, do your nipples seem to leak when your chickens drink out of that with 50 gallons? When mine is completely full (5 gallons) I feel like the water pressure is too high for them to drink that fast and it spills over onto the floor. Was a bigger issue when I had it in the coop, but still, with 10X the water I would think it'd be pouring out. So I just fill mine 3/4 or so, but I've never wanted to build a bigger one because I always thought there'd be too much pressure. Also, why the second row of nipples? Turkeys?

Here's mine, pretty basic

 

[DeepDishChix]

This is awesome I've been using it for 6 months they dont waste any food. Thanks!

 

[MeepBeep]

I actually used adhesive silicone, sometimes they label it 'for plastic'. It's used in aquarium building and sticks and stays in this kind of application much better than the stuff you'd use in your bathroom.

I know full well the difference between adhesive silicone and the stuff you buy in the store, and it's true that some are labeled to have superior bonding to some plastics specifically acrylics but superior to the horrible bond regular silicone has doesn't equate to good... The ones labeled superior boding to acrylic still fail when used on acrylic, that is why acrylic fish tank builders use cements and proprietary acrylic glues to make tanks not silicone... Acrylic actually absorbs a significant amount of water and thus becomes wet and this causes most adhesives to fail in short...

With that said HDPE and PVC are not acrylic they are vastly different plastics, it's common knowledge in the plastics industry that very few adhesives permanently bond to HDPE and the ones that do generally require a surface treatment... Same with PVC, you can get better bonds then HDPE with some specialty adhesives but again these are specialty products, thus the reason 'cements' are used instead of adhesives on PVC... In either case silicone caulk or even silicone adhesives are not known to bond well to HDPE or PVC...

You can use it to build plastic overflows and stuff, too, and it holds those fine.

I beg to differ based on years of experience and no shortage of claims of others seeing it fail, it almost never holds up long term and this is common knowledge on almost all fish forums (that I'm a member of at least)... The only real use for silicone in 'plastic' aquarium stuff is to hold baffles and stuff that are not critical to holding back water and won't cause a flood when they fail... And that assumes you are using acrylic, not HDPE and/or PVC that silicone has a far inferior bond to...

 

[MeepBeep]

MeepBeep, do your nipples seem to leak when your chickens drink out of that with 50 gallons? When mine is completely full (5 gallons) I feel like the water pressure is too high for them to drink that fast and it spills over onto the floor. Was a bigger issue when I had it in the coop, but still, with 10X the water I would think it'd be pouring out.

None of them drip or leak normally, but there is 'splashing' and 'dripping' when the chickens drink, but if you notice there is a water heater tray under the barrel it's about 1.5" bigger in diameter vs the barrel and the barrel sits on some bricks in the tray this acts like a gutter and catches almost all the splash and drip, and diverts it to a bucket outside the coop, that I rarely have to empty as it evaporates pretty much as fast as it fills generally... And because the overflow pipe on the tray is about 1/4" off the bottom of the tray the tray always has a little standing water in it for the lazy birds to drink from and it's doesn't go horribly bad as it's being refreshed with new water as the other chickens use the nipple...

http://www.homedepot.com/p/24-in-Plastic-Water-Heater-Drain-Pan-15021/204834496

In the end it works perfect, I have a float valve fill setup so I can leave it attached to a hose or fill it manually without attention and this year to be safe I put in a submersible aquarium heater hooked to a stand alone thermostat to keep the water about 45°F, my coop is heated to just above freezing but I wanted a second layer of security for the water to make sure it didn't freeze and to provide the birds with some mildly tempered water...

 

[ShrekDawg]

Just got these yesterday at Lowe's per someone's recommendation (can't remember who, sorry ) and plan to make it soon!

Have a question/slight problem though.

First of all, I don't know if it's the right kind? They only had these long ones no regular ones but I think person who recommended it said they are labeled long so maybe this is right?

Second of all and kind of going with number one, my dad seems to think that chicken necks aren't that long and how do I expect them to stick their necks all the way in, etc. Etc. And I tried to say plenty of people use them but thinking about it, he has a point, it seems pretty long and I'm not sure they can do it? I know the cuff is gonna be cut off but still.

Also I thought 2 would fit in a bucket but it seems only 1 will so is this a problem? May have to return the other 2. Was planning on making 2 feeders anyway though so no one fights over the feeder/so I can use a 50 pound bag but don't know if the bucket having only one whole will be a problem?

They are used to having open feeders and waterers and chowing down at once usually or at least a couple at a time.

 

[MeepBeep]

First of all, I don't know if it's the right kind? They only had these long ones no regular ones but I think person who recommended it said they are labeled long so maybe this is right?

That looks like a different brand of the same 90° street sewer elbow I recommend....

 

[ShrekDawg]

That looks like a different brand of the same 90° street sewer elbow I recommend....

So does that mean it would still work then?

Also sorry I couldn't remember the name, I thought maybe it was you but wasn't sure

 

[MeepBeep]

That looks like a different brand of the same 90° street sewer elbow I recommend....

So does that mean it would still work then?

Also sorry I couldn't remember the name, I thought maybe it was you but wasn't sure

Yeah, it should work fine, I modified mine by shortening them a little bit on the inside as seen in post #3 of this thread way back on page one...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-feed-bucket-feeder-for-about-3#post_12240361

 

[ShrekDawg]

Yeah, it should work fine, I modified mine by shortening them a little bit on the inside as seen in post #3 of this thread way back on page one...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-feed-bucket-feeder-for-about-3#post_12240361

Thank you! I'll look at that post! Doez it have to adjusted for it to,work or you just prefer it? I'll probably do it though