Running water to the coop

[aart]

As a follow up to this thread I thought I'd post a picture of my water system for others interested. I ran a submersible aquarium heater to the bottom of the tube and it seems to be working just fine this winter. The horizontal nipples have been a great upgrade from the verticals.

This is the heater I purchased and it works just fine, but I'd prefer one that only went to 45-50F.
http://amzn.to/1CmEzxT

How did you thread the nipples into the PVC?
Any leakage?

I've read that the HN's are much less likely to freeze up or leak or drip.
My HN's seem to drip, not sure if it's from a leak or the chooks splashing a bit out of the lip.

I too use an aq heater set at the lowest 68F...works good bit also wish I could set it at 40-50F.
I insulated the jug and that helps with power usage.

 

[mrmojo08]

I believe the HN's came with instructions to use an 11/32 drill bit that allowed for nice fit. The HNs seemed to screw into the PVC quite nicely and so far (about 2 months in use) I haven't seen any leaks.

The HN's are spring loaded so the water doesn't leak out like the verticals do.

 

[AnnieE]

I set up an old light bulb in a metal bowl surrounded by bricks that i set the water bowl on. Has been keeping the water liquid.

 

[aart]

I set up an old light bulb in a metal bowl surrounded by bricks that i set the water bowl on. Has been keeping the water liquid.

Interesting! Got a pic?

 

[mrmojo08]

If I change anything in the future I'll get a larger diameter pipe or just use a 5-gallon bucket. I wanted to ensure that the heater was always in water (you never want to let these heaters run "dry"), so I lose about .65 gallons of capacity with the nipples being 12" off the ground. Overall it holds around 2.6 gallons above the nipples when full.

 

[AnnieE]

The design i used said to use a hollow concrete block, but i didnt have one. :/ gonna wrap plastic around the side walls and roof in the corner to keep precipitation out of the bowl.

 

[MelbourneFL]

Horizontal water nipples... i'll have to look into this further. Here's my deal, I live in Melbourne FL so I never have a water freeze issue <grinning widely> I run water from my deep well, 440 feet deep with substantial ground/hrydostatic flow.. Uncapped I'd estimate it flows 50 to 75 gallons an hour. It doesn't really have 'pressure' that would measure on a guage, it just flows.

So.. my question. Would the horizontal nipple with that spring loaded emitter device be a good choice for me? Do you think it'd provide enough resistance to stop wasting the aquifer's water? Presently I'm letting the water just flow and flow, I sort of consider it free water but I know there's not a limitless supply (in the bigger picture). It's all sand here so I don't have a problem with mud/mess.

I'll have photos someday soon, it's an eight by twenty space under a corrugated metal roof along side my shed.. the hen house is eight by five with double rows (top/bottom) of nesting boxes. I got very lucky and found recycled welded wire fence material, Hardy Board sheets, and even the galvanized roof. Hen's? I've got four RIR's so far but want to add more hens before March.

Please let me know about the water nipples.. my water supply really isn't under pressure but perhaps a bit more than gravity. (oh, I could rig a storage tank and then gravity flow too)

 

[aart]

Horizontal water nipples... i'll have to look into this further. Here's my deal, I live in Melbourne FL so I never have a water freeze issue <grinning widely> I run water from my deep well, 440 feet deep with substantial ground/hrydostatic flow.. Uncapped I'd estimate it flows 50 to 75 gallons an hour. It doesn't really have 'pressure' that would measure on a guage, it just flows.

So.. my question. Would the horizontal nipple with that spring loaded emitter device be a good choice for me? Do you think it'd provide enough resistance to stop wasting the aquifer's water? Presently I'm letting the water just flow and flow, I sort of consider it free water but I know there's not a limitless supply (in the bigger picture). It's all sand here so I don't have a problem with mud/mess.

I'll have photos someday soon, it's an eight by twenty space under a corrugated metal roof along side my shed.. the hen house is eight by five with double rows (top/bottom) of nesting boxes. I got very lucky and found recycled welded wire fence material, Hardy Board sheets, and even the galvanized roof. Hen's? I've got four RIR's so far but want to add more hens before March.

Please let me know about the water nipples.. my water supply really isn't under pressure but perhaps a bit more than gravity. (oh, I could rig a storage tank and then gravity flow too)

Never tried them under any pressure, don't remember anyone else doing that either....all's you can so is try it out.

There's ton of discussion about horizontal and vertical nipples:
advanced search>titles only>horizontal nipples
Happy Reading!

 

[pdirt]

I haven't really tracked their water consumption as we were letting them run the yard during the summer. They had access to an open water dish and shared with the dog.

My water system for winter is a 4" pvc tube (5' tall) with horizontal chicken nipples. I've run a submersible aquarium heater all the way to the bottom (below the nipples) to ensure it's always in water reducing the chance of it breaking. It seems to be working perfectly so far and we've had some 10 degree F weather this winter already. Overall I'm providing about 2.6 gallons in the 4' of pipe above the nipples.

We have 5 hens and my system provides approximately 2.6 gallons. Do you think that will last for a week or so? I find that there's a lot less waste with the horizontal nipples compared to the vertical.

We use horizontal nipples in a 5 gallon bucket. I refill it every 5-6 days for 23 chickens. So I would think your 2.6 gals for 5 hens would be more than sufficient for a week. Very smart to have the heater well below the nipples, so the heater never runs dry.

 

[Farmerwife1]

The bucket has always been the most reliable. I'm trying to simplify the water delivery to the coop for when we're out of town and have someone watching the chickens for us. Btw, I live in Spokane, WA and our winter has brought on some very cold temps already. About 15 degrees F on my way to work today.

I have my water system designed so that it won't freeze once it's filled, I'm just looking for ideas on what others have done to get the water to the coop in the most efficient manner. Digging a trench may not be in the cards this winter

We Live in North Central Oregon. It sounds like our winter temps. are similar to yours. Did you figure out your system. My husband is convinced if we come up with a system the the water is able to run through the whole time, it won't freeze. We are on a farm and are going to run the water out to some trees that could use the watering. So that it will just pass through the coup and always be fresh for the chickens.