Need a better way to water my flock

[aart]

My chickens are drinking upwards of 5 gallons a day

I have 35 right now.

That's a lot of water for 35 birds.....leaks and/or evaporation must be a factor.

 

[NatJ]

That's a lot of water for 35 birds.....leaks and/or evaporation must be a factor.

A common estimate seems to be that an adult chicken will drink a pint of water each day, and up to double that (a quart each) in hot weather.

35 pints = 4 3/8 gallons
35 quarts = 8 3/4 gallons

So if the chickens are all adults, that amount is reasonable.

 

[WindingRoad]

My chickens are drinking upwards of 5 gallons a day and by the time I get around to refilling them their waters wind up going dry more often than I would like. I tried a diy vacuum waterer (basically 5gal buckets sitting in pans) and that worked great until my chickens figured out how to knock over 5gal buckets full of water (I have no idea how they could possibly do it, but here we are).

So, I need a solution that will allow me to have at least a 20 gallon or so water capacity. Are those nipple waterers actually worth it? They seem like the sort of gimmicky thing that sounds good but never works for me.

I used a heated dog bowl hold 1.5 gallons have 12 chickens. I throw away about a half gallon of water a day. Thinking of getting 4-5 smaller ones so everyone can get a drink when they want and hopefully not throw out water at the end of the day. If your birds are drinking that much you probably need a couple more waterers. I have some white and red ones that get algae in them in the summer. I fixed that by using ACV in them daily.

 

[aart]

A common estimate seems to be that an adult chicken will drink a pint of water each day, and up to double that (a quart each) in hot weather.

35 pints = 4 3/8 gallons
35 quarts = 8 3/4 gallons

So if the chickens are all adults, that amount is reasonable.

Mine don't drink that much....even in summer.

 

[NatJ]

Mine don't drink that much....even in summer.

Maybe it's a climate thing--you're in Michigan, OP is in Texas.

And I think the estimates I found are for chickens getting dry feed, water, and nothing else. So the amount they drink from the waterers could be very different if they have other sources of moisture (dew on the grass, wet feed, watermelon, etc).

 

[aart]

And I think the estimates I found are for chickens getting dry feed, water, and nothing else.

Yep, that's my birds.
They drink even less when there's snow on the ground or heavy rain.

 

[Lin B]

For me I have several waters for my flock. I have 13 birds and 4 waters. That way they don't crowd around just one. They sit up on cinder blocks to keep them cleaner.

 

[westgl]

I have a 5 gallon bucket and use 5 Horizontal Nipples on it. for only 6 Chickens. The Horizontal Nipples are a Leaky way to get water to the chickens in my Opinion. the Problem is they can get stuck Open and ALL the Water drains out of the 5 gallon bucket. i have been using this method for over 5 years. I have replaced all Nipples several times, same problem, I have checked for any cracks in bucket including bottom of bucket. I have also increased the Springs, spring rate inside the nipple to provide more tension on the O-ring in the nipple, i have replaced O-rings in the nipples to get a better seal, No luck. i May have to replace O-rings again in all the Nipples to keep the Nipples from draining all the water out in a Short period of time.

 

[aart]

I have a 5 gallon bucket and use 5 Horizontal Nipples on it. for only 6 Chickens. The Horizontal Nipples are a Leaky way to get water to the chickens in my Opinion. the Problem is they can get stuck Open and ALL the Water drains out of the 5 gallon bucket. i have been using this method for over 5 years. I have replaced all Nipples several times, same problem, I have checked for any cracks in bucket including bottom of bucket. I have also increased the Springs, spring rate inside the nipple to provide more tension on the O-ring in the nipple, i have replaced O-rings in the nipples to get a better seal, No luck. i May have to replace O-rings again in all the Nipples to keep the Nipples from draining all the water out in a Short period of time.

Either the water is dirty.....or more likely, it's an installation problem.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

So....

I have a gutter on the roof of my barn. It feeds a 275 gal food grade tote ($125, used). That, via PVC, fills an "automatic" style stock tank waterer (installed in a scrap piece of long gutter, ends capped), some PVC poultry nipples, and once, an automatic dog watering bowl. (I have ducks, they can't use the nipples). 1" of rainfall fills the tote. We average an 1" a week, so my bigger problem is dealing with overflow. I've never had to manually fill it.

I have a second tote, soon to be filled with rainwater off the goat pen/second house, which I also PVC'd some poultry nipples too, plus mounted the above mentioned auto dog watering bowl at a height suitable for goats that the birds can't fill with mud, and a hose bib for easy clean out or just filling water bowls, whatever at the far end. In theory, 1" of rainfall should equate to 90 gallons if I pull from both sides (reality is that some won't be captured, for whatever reason). Again, I do not expect to ever need to manually fill it, once the gutter is hooked up.

Picture here. (Last picture in this message)