Waterer

[Fishburne]

I built a waterer this weekend that I wanted to share. The basis of the idea came from this youtube clip:

I used a larger diameter piping (1 1/2"), simply because I had some left over from another project, and also installed a simple sight gauge on the side so I can keep an eye on the water level without opening the water container. I used a "Gamma lid" on the bucket to make it secure and easy to refill.

Surprisingly the Gamma lid was cheaper at my local Home Depot than I could find it online. However, at $7.25 it was still the single most expensive element of the project, which cost about $25. The sight gauge was a bit overkill and would have cut about $9 off of my total, but I think it will be worth it in the long run to not have to check the bucket regularly.

 

[pawtraitart]

I built a waterer this weekend that I wanted to share. The basis of the idea came from this youtube clip:

I used a larger diameter piping (1 1/2"), simply because I had some left over from another project, and also installed a simple site gage on the side so I can keep an eye on the water level without opening the water container. I used a "Gamma lid" on the bucket to make it secure and easy to refill.

Surprisingly the Gamma lid was cheaper at my local Home Depot than I could find it online. However, at $7.25 it was still the single most expensive element of the project, which cost about $25. The site gage was a bit overkill and would have cut about $9 off of my total, but I think it will be worth it in the long run to not have to check the bucket regularly.

Very nice! Excellent job.

 

[brooks2873]

Can you give chicks/chicken rain water?

 

[ShockValue]

I love the sight gauge!

 

[CutlassL29]

Great idea with the level sight gauge!

I'm looking to do the same thing but not sure what to use for parts on the bucket itself.
What did you use to go from bucket to the 1 1/2" PVC to seal it up? Got a closeup picture of it?
Also, how high should the water nipples be from the floor?
Thanks

 

[Fishburne]

Can you give chicks/chicken rain water?

I think it somewhat depends on the quality of the water. For instance, I wouldn't give my chickens water that had come off of my composite roof. Most roofing materials contain toxins that will leach into the water as it runs off. However, if you had a galvanized corrugated roof, that might be a legitimate place to harvest rain water and give it to your chickens. Even with a clean roof surface, I think you're running risk of giving contaminated water to your birds and unless your water is outrageously expensive it's probably not worth the risk.

 

[Fishburne]

I love the sight gauge!

Thanks!

 

[Fishburne]

Great idea with the level sight gauge!

I'm looking to do the same thing but not sure what to use for parts on the bucket itself.
What did you use to go from bucket to the 1 1/2" PVC to seal it up? Got a closeup picture of it?
Also, how high should the water nipples be from the floor?
Thanks

The bucket connection piece was tricky. I will try to get pictures of it posted later, but essentially I drilled a hole in the bucket that was slightly smaller than a threaded 1 1/2" adapter. I wrapped the threads in plumbers tape and turned it into the bucket, threading the bucket in the process. I think that's mainly what seals the joint. However, I also took the added precaution of creating a rubber gasket on both sides of the bucket.

To make the gasket I used a piece of rubber shower liner, folded it over itself until it was 8 pieces thick. I clamped the folded liner securely to my workbench and took the same size hole saw I used to cut the bucket hole and drilled it through the folded shower liner. I cut the pieces down (pretty roughly) and used 4 of these them on each side of the pipe tightening the two threaded ends together very tightly. If there was a lot of pressure in the system I don't think this would hold, but with only a 5 gallon bucket's worth of water it's held fine for me.

Again, I believe threading the male end into the bucket is the key, the gasket is probably not doing much (if anything). And if the seal did not hold (or if it fails in the future), I'm prepared to silicon the snot out of it. There's probably a more elegant way to do this, the video I linked simply used a water container with an already threaded bung, which I did not have, so I came up with this.

 

[Fishburne]

Great idea with the level sight gauge!

I'm looking to do the same thing but not sure what to use for parts on the bucket itself.
What did you use to go from bucket to the 1 1/2" PVC to seal it up? Got a closeup picture of it?
Also, how high should the water nipples be from the floor?
Thanks

Oh, and to answer your height question, I found that when I had a bowl waterer the hens would slurp up some water and tilt their heads back, like they were taking a shot to get it down their throat. So, I just tried to get the hight high enough to where they could easily reach it but would already be in that "take a shot" position. They seem to be fine.

Some water does drip down below the water nipples, but it's much less waste than the water tray I had used previously, and it's much MUCH cleaner. No poop, dirt or food gets into their water now.

 

[epinkstn]

That's awesome! We are researching the best way to water our ladies through the summer months and needed something to sit outside the coop (anything that holds enough is too big to fit inside). We were also thinking of using a cooler instead of a bucket and adding ice to it every couple of days. Do you think that would work?