Show me your watering system! (please)

ChickenMamaC

Songster
5 Years
Jun 6, 2018
149
145
166
Rose Valley, WA
We have worked out our feeder for when the girls move outside, but we can't decide what kind of water system we want to put in.
I'm thinking a PVC system with the watering cups, but I'm just not sure.

We have seven chickens, and their run will be about 200 sq ft.
 
I have 5 hens in a 24 sq. ft. raised hen house within a 96 sq.ft. roofed enclosure. So far the bucket system with spin off lids has worked very well for me. Two outlets for food and four for water.
 

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A five gallon bucket with horizontal nipples. In the north east, that also allows us to use a stock tank heater to keep the water thawed.
 

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I put the 5 gallon pail on the outside of the run, and ran a flexible tube to the inside to connect it to a PVC pipe with 3 nipples. I mounted the inside pipe at an angle to give different nipple heights. This picture is when I first installed it 5+ years ago. It has held up. I do need to dump the pail and clean out the algae growing on the inside every once in a while. Not sure there's anything I can do about preventing it. IMG_0082.jpg
 
Horizontal nipples are great! Gamma lids make everything easier too! I got back today, after leaving my 19 chickens for 8 days, with 2 waterers (10 Gal). They had about 2 gallons left. I don't have to depend on someone giving them water or making sure the waterer is clean, when we go away. I use two DIY no waste feeders as well, they hold 40 lbs. (plenty of food left)
@Doc7 Spring for the gamma lid, they work great! Just leave it 1/4 turn loose, so the water comes out.
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Horizontal nipples are great! Gamma lids make everything easier too! I got back today, after leaving my 19 chickens for 8 days, with 2 waterers (10 Gal). They had about 2 gallons left. I don't have to depend on someone giving them water or making sure the waterer is clean, when we go away. I use two DIY no waste feeders as well, they hold 40 lbs. (plenty of food left)
@Doc7 Spring for the gamma lid, they work great! Just leave it 1/4 turn loose, so the water comes out.
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Very nice idea, I might borrow some of it but how about poo management when your gone that long, just curious? My job requires me to fly out of our city for 2-3 days every couple of months, I have poop boards under 4 roosting bars that I scoop every morning to keep my layers feet clean when they go to their nesting boxes (we don’t wash eggs) and eggs are pristine except when one occasionally lay while perched.
 
I have a poop board also, that i scoop daily and only wash an occasional egg. Only 9 of mine are currently laying, but the others are only a few weeks away. When I went away for 3 days, I had about 5 or 6 eggs that needed washing. I cleaned them and hard boiled that day. This time with 8 days away I had a lot more(didn't count)because the boards were really dirty and a couple eggs got broken, in the boxes. I just tossed them all, instead of cleaning. Having the boards and going away for more than a few days is the only issue I have with them.
 
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We have worked out our feeder for when the girls move outside, but we can't decide what kind of water system we want to put in.
I'm thinking a PVC system with the watering cups, but I'm just not sure.

We have seven chickens, and their run will be about 200 sq ft.
 

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