Making your own horizontal nipple waterer

[Toothpick]

I'm upgrading my coop so time to think about upgrading the waterer. I hear great reviews about the horizontal nipples. Specifically folks that have ordered the pack from Amazon and made their own. Just have a couple questions...

I'll have roughly 25 chickens. How many nipples do I need? This will also help determine how many 5 gal buckets (or a single larger one) that I need.

And are these the ones most folks use? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N...tal+nipple&dpPl=1&dpID=41zofDVGmdL&ref=plSrch

Thanks for your answers!

 

[mechanic57]

I use a 50 or 55 gallon food grade barrel with horizontal nipples. I had 30 chickens at once and 5 or 6 nipples in the barrel was enough. They don't all drink at once and they don't drink for long so there is always an open spot when a chicken comes up to get a drink.

 

[Toothpick]

I use a 50 or 55 gallon food grade barrel with horizontal nipples. I had 30 chickens at once and 5 or 6 nipples in the barrel was enough. They don't all drink at once and they don't drink for long so there is always an open spot when a chicken comes up to get a drink.

Where did you find the barrel? So you simply fill it and forget it for a week or so? Or until it's time to fill it again? Does it require any water treatment?

I guess I'm just worried about that much water sitting out in the heat....
Or shouldn't I be.

 

[mechanic57]

I got the barrel from a place that triple rinses empty food grade barrels before they get refilled again. They advertise on craigslist when they have extras and will sell them on an individual basis. It takes about 2 months or so (depending on time of year and number of birds) for them to drink the water down to where its at the nipple level and won't dispense any more. I also found a funnel where the wide end is as wide as the drum. I turned it upside down on the drum so the birds can't perch on the drum and poop all over the lid. Makes it easy to unscrew the caps and refill the water when the caps are not caked in poo.

My coop and chicken run is shaded all day by trees because I live in the woods so the water is not in direct sunlight and it doesn't get hot. I use a small submerged stock tank heater to keep it from freezing in the winter.

I don't treat it with anything because it doesn't have algae growing in it. If it did, you could add apple cider vinegar to the water to prevent the growth. The nipples are not at the very bottom so they can't drink the drum completely empty. Once in a while I dump the water that sits in the bottom since they can't drink it all, rinse it out refilling it and that's about it.

I tried various other methods to water the chickens and this is by far the method that requires the least amount of effort and has zero leaks. It's a hobby so I don't want it to become a chore. Plus I travel out of town and out of the country occasionally, sometimes on very short notice so I wanted a setup I could leave on a moments notice and it would be easy for my wife and kids to take care of while I'm gone.

 

[Toothpick]

Man that sounds great! I might not go the 50gal barrel route but that gives me ideas and answers a lot of my questions. Was it easy to attach the nipples so they don't leak?

 

[Naser]

I use the water butt below, but if you look you will find bigger barrels, I have 35 hens, you only need 2 or 3 nipple drinkers attached to that butt, if you want to add icing to the cake you can install toilette fill valve, connect to the main and forget about filling water for the hens.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ward-GN32...293381&hash=item3d41839778:g:CjQAAOSwq8BZbBJu

 

[TeeMom]

I have 25ish chickens as well. They have 1 five gallon bucket with 4 horizontal nipples in the coop and one outside the coop and it is plenty. I fill them maybe once a week, but I also have large buckets of water they drink from during the day when they're free ranging because I also have ducks, so the buckets are not their only water source.

 

[Toothpick]

The only nipple drinkers I have close are the ones at TSC, which are vertical. I heard bad things about those. Figure I can make my own with the horizontal ones.

Thanks for the great info here!

 

[mechanic57]

The side nipples are threaded. Mine came with simple instructions on what size hole to drill (11/32 I think) and how far to screw the nipple into the hole. The threaded section is cone shaped as you thread it in it gets wider so it really seals the hole to prevent leaks. It's easy and it seems to be a better design.which prevents leaks.

Man that sounds great! I might not go the 50gal barrel route but that gives me ideas and answers a lot of my questions. Was it easy to attach the nipples so they don't leak?

 

[Toothpick]

Awesome. Thanks for the info!