Watering capacity for a gravity-fed chicken nipple system

[livingkitchen]

We have 15 feet available to run pvc. Will 60 nipples placed 3 inches apart supply enough water access for 200 chickens?

 

[Mac in Wisco]

We use commercial watering lines for 5000 hens. We have a nipple drinker for every 10 hens or so. I think they are on 10" spacing.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I looked at one of our management guides for brown layer hens and they recommend no more than 12 hens per nipple.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I'm not sure where the 10" spacing comes from. Ziggity sells watering lines with 6, 8, 10, and 12 inch spacings. Farmtek sells a cheap knock-off as a "hobby drinker" with 6" spacing.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I didn't design nor spec the equipment for the two hen houses that I use, but I'm thinking they designed them based on 10 hens per drinker and then spaced them out based on the available space. Additional drinkers on a closer spacing would have been an added cost.

Using that as a guideline you'd have 20 nipples on a 9" spacing for 15 feet.

 

[livingkitchen]

Thank you. That helps a lot. I had read somewhere that each nipple supports about 4 chickens and so thought we would need at least 50 nipples but did not know how much space would give adequate access to a large flock.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I saw your other thread about making a portable house with a barrel for a water supply. You mentioned 4" - 6" of water column pressure being optimum... That really depends upon the specific drinker you're using. Ideally you'd have a regulator between the supply and the water lines that you'd adjust so that the drinkers are supplying just the right amount of water each time they are triggered. Most of these watering lines are used indoors where litter quality becomes an issue. There is no specific pressure that will give a specific result. The pressure would be adjusted so that the litter is neither too wet, nor too dry. Somewhere in between you get the optimum flow for that specific flock.

Without a regulator between your barrel (which is 60" above the watering line) and your watering line you are to have between 60" and 96" of water column pressure which means the drinkers are going to be delivering quite a bit of water each time they are triggered. You might have a muddy mess under the house and will possibly run out out water before you'd expect to, or not... You'll have to see how well it works without a regulator.

 

[livingkitchen]

Would a valve that can be partially opened solve that issue? Then we can open and close it to regulate water flow.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

No, a valve will not work. The flow is so low and inconsistent that the pressure will equalize on both sides of the valve. A regulator is an automatic valve that continually refills the system to the desired water column height. If it is set to 6" of water column pressure, as water is withdrawn from the system a valve opens and refills the system to 6" of head and then the valve closes.

Imagine you have a bucket attached to your drinker lines with a flexible hose. You install a float valve in the bucket that always keeps the bucket half full with water from your drum. You then adjust the height of the bucket so that the water level in the bucket is 6" above your drinkers, or 8", or 10", or what have you... That is an adjustable regulator, just not as compact as the little unit attached to the drinker line in the photo above. That one uses a rubber diaphragm that is pretensioned with an adjustable spring load to open and close that valve at the proper water column pressure.

 

[livingkitchen]

Hi Mac in Wisco!

Just wanted to let you know that we got the system up and running and your bucket suggestion worked beautifully!

Thanks again for the response!