problem with my waterer

[tarragon]

I am hoping someone can answer this for me. My hubby made the homemade feeder and waterer for our coop, using instructions posted on this site. We used a large bucket from a bakery for each one, bolted to a large plant saucer. The feeder works pretty well, although I have to jiggle it sometimes to get the food flowing out the holes. My problem is with the waterer. It has a 1/2" hole drilled near the bottom of the bucket for the water to flow into the saucer. The lid has a rubber seal on the inside edge. When I fill it, I plug the hole, fill the bucket and put the lid on. When I unplug the hole the water flows into the saucer, but does not stop once it is full. It just overflows. I then go through a variety of frantic steps, remove the lid, replace the lid, plug the hole, jiggle the whole thing, rotate the whole thing. Eventually the flow stops, but I'm never sure if it has anything to do with one of the things I've attempted. Of course by then, the bucket is almost empty. The chickens seem to enjoy watching the whole process, but I'd much prefer to just fill the darn thing and be done. Any ideas on what is wrong?

 

[wcasey911]

Put a large funnel in the bottom of the food bucket. It forces the feed out the side holes. As for the waterer i believe 1/2" hole is too big.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

Your problem is most likely air.
Either air is getting into the bucket because it is not air tight, probably at the lid.
Or the water outlet hole is to high on the bucket for the pan and air is sucking into the bucket through the water. If this is the case you should be able to hear the air gugling into the water while the bucket is still relatively full.