by Rebecca Nickols
Photos by author
July 2012 will go down as one of the warmest and driest months on record for much of America–including my Southwest Missouri coop. During this epic drought and heat, the importance of providing your flock with access to clean cool water is more critical than ever. Record temperatures, high humidity and dry arid air can triple the water requirements of chickens and the lack of water availability for even a short period of time could be fatal.
I provide water to my free ranging flock in a variety of ways: a galvanized fountain waterer within the run, several mason jar chick waterers scattered throughout the shaded areas of my property and a few shallow pans filled daily with fresh water. I’ve even caught the girls drinking water from the dog’s bowl and a container garden pond I constructed!
A few weeks ago I introduced my flock to a new product, The Chicken Fountain. This automatic watering system is connected to a garden hose so fresh water is automatically refilled to the waterer on the hens’ demand. The system utilizes drippers or “poultry nipples” which the flock (much to my surprise) had no trouble figuring out how they operated. One aspect of this watering system that I especially appreciate is that it’s a closed system–the water stays clean! I don’t have to dump out the dirty water contaminated with dirt, bird droppings, debris, etc.
After the success of the Chicken Fountain, I decided that I would add yet another “watering hole” to my flock’s free ranging territory only this time I would construct the waterer myself (with a little help from my handy-man husband)!
Supplies:5 gallon bucket with lid – price $0
Drill
Crescent wrench
5 Chicken waterer screw in poultry nipples – price $3.39 (ebay-free shipping)
Irwin 67522 – 11/32″ Black Oxide Drill Bit – price $2.65 (ebay-$1.95 shipping)
Silicone Caulk – price $3.98 (Lowes)
Total: $11.97
Step 1: Gather the Supplies
A 5 gallon bucket/lid can be purchased at home improvement stores for about $6.00, but most food chains will gladly give you a used food grade bucket for free. I called several different mega fast food restaurants and they all willing agreed to let me have all the buckets I wanted! I found the cheapest price to purchase the poultry nipples was ebay. The seller was from China and I was prepared to wait a month or so before the drippers arrived, but I received the package in ten short days (free shipping)! We didn’t have the recommended drill bit; supposedly it’s an odd size. I went ahead and added an additional $5.00 to my project and purchased this bit, but I’ve read where other chicken keepers have used a larger drill bit and simply added Teflon tape when threading the drippers into the bucket. Silicone caulk isn’t required if the seal of the poultry nipples is tight, but it’s an added protection against leaks.
Step 2: Drill the Holes
On the bottom of the bucket, mark out the position of the drippers and drill the holes using the recommended drill bit.
Step 3: Screw in the Poultry Nipples
We added a little silicone caulk to the thread of each nipple then screwed the drippers into the pre-drilled holes (a crescent wrench helped to tighten the drippers into the bucket).
As a side note… one dripper is recommended for every 3 birds.
Step 4: Optional Water Access Cap
Thanks to a tip from a Community Chicken’s reader, Teri, this optional feature is an ingenious idea! I drilled a hole into the lid, added a threaded PVC connector and cap and now all I have to do is open this cap to add water to the bucket instead of prying the lid off.
Step 5: Hang the Waterer
Using the existing handle of the bucket, the waterer can be hung from a chain or rope in the coop, run or as I did from a tree! The height of the drippers should be about 14″ from the ground for most standard breeds. Even though the chickens had been exposed to this method of drinking water, they were a little intimidated by the looks of the strange green bucket. To ease their fear I threw a few sunflower seeds under the waterer and held one of the drippers open. The sight of the water droplets soon enticed my bravest hen to peck at the drippers and soon the whole flock followed her lead!
My simple DIY waterer took less than an hour to complete and it’s proven to be a popular watering spot for the flock!
Have you tackled a similar project–leave a comment below or share a photo with the Community on our facebook page!
To see what else is happening on our southwest Missouri property, visit the garden-roof coop.
18 Comments
Thank you for sharing! I literally just finished this project because of you. 🙂 I’m new to the chicken world.
I didn’t want to buy an extra bit so I used a 5/16 and bored the hole out a bit to make it work. 😉
I love the chicken nipples and use them in a 5 gal bucket for my 7 ladies. I have gone a step further and have a hose on a timer that flushes and refills the bucket every morning about 4a.m. That way they just get cool water. I have 2 one inch holes close to the top of the bucket, one for the water to go in and one to drain the overflow out of the coop area. No heavy buckets to carry.
[…] found plans for our new chicken waterer at Community Chickens, an excellent resource for the beginning chicken caregiver. We went with a food grade BPA-free […]
I still cant get mine to drink from it. I press the nipple to get water and they peck the sand that the water drips on. Ill try putting wheat underneath
Any additional suggestions on how to get the chickens to use the drippers? Mine (just two) won’t even glance at the hanging bucket. Every time I go outside I show them the dripping water, but they go back to pecking and scratching elsewhere. I’m afraid to take away their other source of water, but I do keep moving it further away from their normal feeding/drinking area.
Also, don’t insert the nipples on the side of the bucket. They’ll leak.
Try putting a little scratch close to the waterer, maybe they will notice it…Chickens are usually curious, and will figure it out..
Try putting a little scratch close to the waterer, maybe they will notice it…Chickens are usually curious, and will figure it out..
Where to buy the niples or water drips?I know I can do this and is good.
I really like this waterer and I saw a website with blue buckets just like this. I lost the website though and was hoping someone might know where I could order them already to go!?
The problem I see with mounting the nipples on the side is that they operate by gravity. Many have a little ball in there that seals the hole when not being used. Mounting on the side may inhibit the seal and cause leaks, then only a matter of time before you have a watering mud hole. Have you ever watched a chicken drink water? They raise their heads after filling their beak so that the water can run into their stomachs. This is a short cut for them too!
LadyJustice and Mark: I haven’t noticed any problems with coughing, sneezing, etc.. from water going into their nostrils. I also talked to other chicken keepers who have the drippers mounted on the bottom of a container and they haven’t had any problems either. Mounting the drippers on the side would be another option, but I’m not sure how the angle would work. If you give it a try, leave another comment and pass along how it worked!
We have cat litter buckets galore. They have a hinged plastic top which allows great access to refilling. I will definitely put this to use. Same question as Lady-Justice – will the nipples work as well mounted on the side rather than the bottom?
I have a dripping hose into a large shallow saucer for the wild birds, and many of them prefer to drink the drips from the end of the hose rather than from the saucer even though they have to kind of bend down and then reach up to get to it the way it is situated next to something they can perch on. I miss having chickens, but we just got tired of fighting the coons for them.
Good for you! Poultry nipple waterers are the best thing you can do for the health of your chickens! I made some of them earlier this year too and then stumbled upon The Chicken Fountain, which has totally changed the amount of time my daily chicken chores take and I have more time to spend enjoying my flock!
Why do the waterers have to be on the bottom? Seems this would be a very unnatural angle for them and water could go up their nose holes?
I’m going to try this. I have been telling “my” girls that they really shouldn’t perch on top of the waterer as they seem to think pooping and perching are both OK!. They don’t listen so cleaning twice, three, four times a day!!! I thought of getting a waterer with a peaked cover or even using an open conical framework made from coat hangers. The covered bucket sounds better. We have four Barred Rocks. They are absolutely addicted to seedless red grapes. When ever we come outside they rush up asking for them. Is this “normal”? They free range for most of the week but have been taking to branches of the cedar trees near their coop. They used to just walk up and into the roost area at dusk but lately they take to the trees. Owls, grey foxes, ‘coons and ‘possums could easily reach them. Any suggestions? We hope for eggs late in September. We have no rooster(s)
I actually found out about the watering nipples a month or two ago. We had been using dog food bowls to water our chickens, and it got old having to wash them out twice a day. Now we just let them have fun in the water, and they can drink from the buckets that we only have to fill twice a week!
Very neat!