Nipple waterer idea

[LD Jackson]

As my chicks were out drinking the waterer I had made out of a pigeon waterer, I purchased a 5-gallon waterer from Atwoods. It's the one with a red tray and five sides, (I think). Anyway, thet first thing I noticed is how dirty the water is getting, even though I have it well off the floor on landscaping timbers. I am not really fond of how it's working, but I also don't want to have spent $40 for nothing. While reading about nipple watering systems on BYC, I found this post.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3699533#p3699533

So, here is my idea. What if I removed the bottom tray of my waterer, capped off the drain hole that allows the water to drain into the tray, and used a screw-in nipple in each side of the waterer? They would necessarily have to stick straight out, instead of at an angle, and the top of this waterer does seal off air tight. Would any of that interfere with the operation of the nipples? If this would work, would five nipples be enough for 15 hens, BA, BO, BR?

 

[teamsunbelt]

I have the same problem with a dirty tray. The real problem is that as the water comes out, the dirt flows back in, so you have 5 gallons of dirty water. I like your idea.

 

[LD Jackson]

Quote:
My only concern is how the nipples will work sticking out of the side of the waterer, instead of straight out of the bottom. I did recheck the way it is shaped and close to the bottom, it narrows down so it can fit into the tray. This narrowing is at about a 45° angle. I wonder if this would be enough to make sure the nipples work correctly?

 

[DanEP]

the nipples need to point down not out or they will leak or not work. Also the nipple system will not work with a vacume you will have to drill a hole in the top for a vent I just used a 5 gallon bucket with three nipples and drilled a 3/8 hole in the lid for a vent and it works fine,any more than three nipples is a waste because there is not enough room for 5 chickens to drink all at once.

 

[teamsunbelt]

Could you use the same idea with the little watering cups?

 

[LD Jackson]

Quote:
I was afraid that was what the answer would be. I would like to be able to use a nipple system, simply because I think it would be cleaner, but I really don't have a way to hang the waterer from the roof of the coop, given the way it is built. (Converted from a pigeon loft.) The only other option I can think of is to set the waterer outside the coop and run a pvc pipe inside.

I would be satisfied with using it as it is, if I could only keep the tray clean. I have thought about raising it up even higher, but I'm not sure that would help.

 

[CarolynF]

Here's my 2 cents. Sell your expensive waterer on CraigsList or similar. Then build a watering system with a 5 gal. bucket that feeds PVC pipes in which you've mounted water nipples. I didn't have enough room to hang a 5 gal. bucket either! Take a peek at my BYC Page and click where it says "Watering System page". I got my nipples on-line at QC Supply.

There is a lot of discussion about this type of waterer. A couple of things to pay close attention to are: Angle of the nipple, height of nipple, height of bucket above the nipples (too high and you'll get mud puddles), and the number of chickens per nipple.

Have fun!

 

[LD Jackson]

Quote:
Actually, I am thinking of building a nipple system similar to yours and may use my current waterer as the container. It already has a hole for the water to drain into the tray, so I could enlarge that to the proper size, insert the fittings, and work from there. For 15 hens, how many nipples should I use?

 

[CarolynF]

Quote:
Hi LJ,
Search out Neil Grassbaugh's posts. He seems to be the most knowledgeable on this subject. I would just be repeating what he's written. He address the number of nipples here.... https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=519166&p=1 It's a thread where you posted earlier this evening.