Mutt Farm
Songster
Summer heat and watering is challenging here with my chickens. 100-105 deg isn't uncommon. I love having them, but need to keep the workload low. Needing to be home to put ice bottles in the waterers and change them every day got old quickly. I got creative. Here's my solution. DIY nipple cooler! It's working great!
The type below didn't work for me as the water in the reservoir got really warm.
So I retrofitted the cooler. Here's the inside with the sleeve
Here are the parts and the drill tool I used. The parts are positioned as they are once assembled. Just cut the black one to the desired length.
It was a 1 hour project plus a day for the aquarium sealer to dry.
I freeze 1 gal ice in buckets for big ice cubes. Dropped 1 in, filled it up.
I worried about teaching them to use it. I read a lot on BYC. No training needed here! My youngest are 11 wks and it's 95-100 deg. All are used to the big traditional waterers. I hung it in the coop from a rope, took the other water away while they were out wandering. They are thisty when they get back. They pecked, but spooked when it started moving. My bad. New farmer mistake. I put only one traditional H2O source right underneath it for the night. Yesterday, same thing, let them out for a few hours, but I secured it so it didn't spin. No other water source. All 15 went right to it and drank well. So much less worry for me. Good to go with clean cold H2O for 3-5 days.
The type below didn't work for me as the water in the reservoir got really warm.
So I retrofitted the cooler. Here's the inside with the sleeve
Here are the parts and the drill tool I used. The parts are positioned as they are once assembled. Just cut the black one to the desired length.
It was a 1 hour project plus a day for the aquarium sealer to dry.
I freeze 1 gal ice in buckets for big ice cubes. Dropped 1 in, filled it up.
I worried about teaching them to use it. I read a lot on BYC. No training needed here! My youngest are 11 wks and it's 95-100 deg. All are used to the big traditional waterers. I hung it in the coop from a rope, took the other water away while they were out wandering. They are thisty when they get back. They pecked, but spooked when it started moving. My bad. New farmer mistake. I put only one traditional H2O source right underneath it for the night. Yesterday, same thing, let them out for a few hours, but I secured it so it didn't spin. No other water source. All 15 went right to it and drank well. So much less worry for me. Good to go with clean cold H2O for 3-5 days.
