I built mine with a seven gallon bucket and three water nipples. For nearly thirty chickens we just top it off a couple times a week. (We didn't want to keep a hose hooked up to it. ) Clean water and very low cost and maintenance. We also use a small aquarium heater (I recommend making sure you buy one with auto shutoff if it runs out of water) in the colder weather in Washington State with no problems. It rarely needs cleaning. It has worked great for us. We also fill a couple two gallon buckets on the ground for them as a treat- they do love drinking out of the water directly- but the automatic bucket is always there so we're sure they always have clean water available. With automatic feeders we can lleave them for several days with no worries.
Warning: We have a slightly smaller coop with just 3 hens using a similar manual door. We forgot to open it one 90 degree day recently and they died from the heat. Bummer. Hope you come up with a good automated door system soon before I have to. Thanks for all your great info!
We have a Chicken Guard automatic coop door. I know you prefer to buy within the USA, so please note this comes from Europe. It's handcrafted by a small business. The price with shipping was comparable to other products. What sold us was the unit. It has a timer to open and close the door, a sensor to open and close based on light and an option to use both the sensor and the timer together. It is battery operated (4 AA) and we change the batteries twice a year, when we change them in our smoke detectors. We ran into an issue with it rubbing this year, but they said to run sandpaper in the grooves of the wooden tracks, which fixed it perfectly. It's been amazing to have, because I love sleeping in! Haha! There's a RUclips video on it. Check it out and compare to other products.
I've used that type of waterer in the past. I found it to be woefully inadequate in hot weather. The chickens simply can't drink the water fast enough to avoid dehydration. And ducks MUST be able to submerge their bills below water to keep their nostrils clear and healthy.
Hi I have something very similar but without the hose and float system. Only thing I notice is that the white bucket allows light to penetrate so you do get an algae buildup over time on the inside of the bucket So I clean it every few weeks Thought about painting the outside black to stop that from happening Dave from New Zealand
I wondered about algae, too. Here in the Florida panhandle, I have to wash the algae out at least weekly from my chickens' waterer. It's the sunlight--duh!
I have used a 5 gallon bucket with chicken nipples for watering. It works great but I may have to add the hose connection instead of filling once a week. I live in NC so it's not as cold in the winter. An aquarium heater works great until the temperature drops into the teens. Then icicles form from the nipples and the chickens can't get any water. The water in the bucket stays warm. Just something to watch out for. Thanks for your videos.
great idea! We made our 5 gallon bucket with horizontal nipples because we have to water our birds inside the barn and they don't leak drip as bad. But I really like the float valve idea - thanks!
I've seen quite a few automatic waters for chickens. This is the first I've seen with the nipples on the bottom. If they're on the side, you can set them up for all sizes of chickens from chicks up.
Im so confused as to how that works. Wouldnt the bucket of water still freeze and the bottle of salted water just not freeze? Just dont see how the bottle of salted water could stop thw other water from getting blow freeze point.
Not to be critical wouldn’t you want to check your flock at the eve. to make sure no pecking, etc injuries. Btr to address problems early rather then later. Just a thought. There are so many variables outside, like a snake 4 one🤔
Grass fed homestead RUclips channel has an automatic chicken door and they tell you where you can get one at it closes at dark and opens at daylight runs off a 12 volt battery. He has a video up on his channel about the door and how it works. Of course where to get it I just forgot company name now!
What about an aquarium air pump to keep the water from freezing. My brother-in-law used to "bubble" his boat when he kept it on Lake Erie over the winter.
Good ! but what is the water supply pressure? I have 4 bar in addition to a hammer effect with the well pump .... I think the float cannot support 5 bar
Thanks! $55 is a pretty good deal considering garden hose float valves are ~$10 and a dozen dribblers cost $10, so by the time you add time it's about the same to DIY one of these.
I like your thinking ❤ but I like the cups not nipples because what if they have cross beaks ? There is another better setup! The nipples I hear have a high fail rate.😢
Thanks for calling it for what it is. It's definitely a run, coop, pen. The only time i know of a chicken tractor is when they roost on mine and then they poop on it and if i don't see it on my seat i smell it all day and can't figure what i did. Have a good day.
G'day mate. Looking ahead to fix myself up wth chickens. Looking around your channel for ideas. Thanks so much for your great videos. One question i have. With having well water with no softeners. How do these type of nipples handle the build up. I know our gravety fed dog water bowl needs cleaning out each and evertime we need to fill.
Hi, Having chickens is new to me, I picked up one of these watering buckets with the nipples on the bottom like this one, but mine didn’t have the float..,my question, is….do the chickens naturally or automatically know to/how to use it to get water or do you have to train them, if so, how?
Good ideas. I was looking at your other watering solutions. Has the aquarium heater not been able to keep up even though you have a heat lamp on the coop? Your climate and mine are about the same.
great job,hey i noticed in the coop area those yellow flowers.they are goldenrod,grab all u can,get a mason jar fill it up with the flowers,add honey (Infusion) or anisette (tincture) let it sit on a shelf for a month, your body will love u for it,,,peace
has anyone done something like this but for rabbits? i'd think they'd need the drippers.nipples at a different angle, but other than that this looks great! i have a colony style rabbit set up and only 2 rabbits, but this would work so much better once i get into more of a meat production colony!
Farmer Brad Oh, OK. That makes more sense. From your video I got the impression that you thought you could continue to use the auto fill during the winter.
The problem with plastic bucket is over time the plastic will crack and break under the pressure of hanging. I know cause this is what we did and for a year was great, but then the heat and the cold weakened it to the point of breaking. I guess you could spend 25.00 a year on these, and not have to build anything, that's not too bad.
I bought one of those,, but did not like tthe idea of the nipples being on the bottom so I found one with the nipples on the bottom edge of the side of the bucket. They can also be the little cups.
Great idea for the chickens but ducks and other waterfowl need to wash their bills out for their health. You need something for them to submerge their bills under.
did the power go out? Hard to believe that an aquarium heater could ever freeze. I used a 50 watt in a 50 gallon drum in the middle of winter here and it never froze
+S Robin I had a clip of the barred rocks using it but it did turn out good so I had to leave it out. It took them about 5 minutes to go investigate and start drinking
I saw one made diy on living traditions channel. He used a 5 gallon bucket (much easier to find) a swamp cooler float valve and those same chicken nipples but mounted on the side.
Farmer brad bucket waterer - farmerbrad.com/discount/SSLFamilyFarm?redirect=%2Fproducts%2Fautomatic-chicken-waterer-2018-version
Use Coupon Code SSLFamilyFarm at checkout
Can I ask for instructions on your seed feeder?
They have one with the chicken nipples at Tractor supply for half the cost not sure if it has the float thing though !
This company go under? Website is terrible
I'm adding a cooler float to my 5 gallon dripper....love this idea...thankyou for sharing the knowledge!!
You might want to add a tension cable from the top of that 2x4 to the 4x4 post, so the weight of the water won't cause your hanger to fall.
I built mine with a seven gallon bucket and three water nipples. For nearly thirty chickens we just top it off a couple times a week. (We didn't want to keep a hose hooked up to it. ) Clean water and very low cost and maintenance. We also use a small aquarium heater (I recommend making sure you buy one with auto shutoff if it runs out of water) in the colder weather in Washington State with no problems. It rarely needs cleaning. It has worked great for us. We also fill a couple two gallon buckets on the ground for them as a treat- they do love drinking out of the water directly- but the automatic bucket is always there so we're sure they always have clean water available. With automatic feeders we can lleave them for several days with no worries.
Warning: We have a slightly smaller coop with just 3 hens using a similar manual door. We forgot to open it one 90 degree day recently and they died from the heat. Bummer. Hope you come up with a good automated door system soon before I have to. Thanks for all your great info!
We have a Chicken Guard automatic coop door. I know you prefer to buy within the USA, so please note this comes from Europe. It's handcrafted by a small business. The price with shipping was comparable to other products. What sold us was the unit. It has a timer to open and close the door, a sensor to open and close based on light and an option to use both the sensor and the timer together. It is battery operated (4 AA) and we change the batteries twice a year, when we change them in our smoke detectors. We ran into an issue with it rubbing this year, but they said to run sandpaper in the grooves of the wooden tracks, which fixed it perfectly. It's been amazing to have, because I love sleeping in! Haha! There's a RUclips video on it. Check it out and compare to other products.
I bought the chicken bucket. It works really well. No Maintance so far. I hooked mine up to a rain barrel so I have free water for my chickens.
great idea with the aquarium water heater in the winter. Thanks!
Great idea, now there are clean water for your chickens. Thank you for sharing your amazing video. God bless you and your family
I've used that type of waterer in the past. I found it to be woefully inadequate in hot weather. The chickens simply can't drink the water fast enough to avoid dehydration. And ducks MUST be able to submerge their bills below water to keep their nostrils clear and healthy.
This is certainly not for ducks but I have used for years in hot weather with chickens and they do just fine and can get plenty of water
Hi I have something very similar but without the hose and float system.
Only thing I notice is that the white bucket allows light to penetrate so you do get an algae buildup over time on the inside of the bucket
So I clean it every few weeks
Thought about painting the outside black to stop that from happening
Dave from New Zealand
I wondered about algae, too. Here in the Florida panhandle, I have to wash the algae out at least weekly from my chickens' waterer. It's the sunlight--duh!
Kep it out of the light if possible (or use black buckets) and add a little vinegar (about 10 ml of 5% vinegar per Litre/ 1 cubic inch per 3/4 gallon)
Paint the bucket black. Solved ^^
@@FarmerBrad Copper is also good at killing Sperm. It's better than a Condom. Checkout Copper Intra Uterine Device. ^_^
I have used a 5 gallon bucket with chicken nipples for watering. It works great but I may have to add the hose connection instead of filling once a week. I live in NC so it's not as cold in the winter. An aquarium heater works great until the temperature drops into the teens. Then icicles form from the nipples and the chickens can't get any water. The water in the bucket stays warm. Just something to watch out for. Thanks for your videos.
it's still going to freeze at the nipples in sub zero temps
Wondered if that would happen. Thanks
great idea! We made our 5 gallon bucket with horizontal nipples because we have to water our birds inside the barn and they don't leak drip as bad. But I really like the float valve idea - thanks!
I've seen quite a few automatic waters for chickens. This is the first I've seen with the nipples on the bottom. If they're on the side, you can set them up for all sizes of chickens from chicks up.
@ 5:05 As a metric person the first thought was why give the chickens boiling water? 100 degrees....
Lord love a duck. I need to get one of those chicken waterers.
place a pop bottle full of heavily salted water inside bucket, keep it from freezing with zero power
@cyberknight2010
Great tip. Thanks!
Im so confused as to how that works. Wouldnt the bucket of water still freeze and the bottle of salted water just not freeze? Just dont see how the bottle of salted water could stop thw other water from getting blow freeze point.
Not to be critical wouldn’t you want to check your flock at the eve. to make sure no pecking, etc injuries. Btr to address problems early rather then later. Just a thought. There are so many variables outside, like a snake 4 one🤔
This looks great…do you have to train them on it if they are used to a trough waterer?
I have same question…have you tried?
Thanks for sharing this with us we did this with a toilet float valve we got the idea from Danny at Deep South Homestead thanks for sharing God Bless
Nice. Take a look at this one ( automatic self maintained water system for chickens) let me know thanks
how 's the duck get in the coop? great video
Grass fed homestead RUclips channel has an automatic chicken door and they tell you where you can get one at it closes at dark and opens at daylight runs off a 12 volt battery. He has a video up on his channel about the door and how it works. Of course where to get it I just forgot company name now!
Tractor Supply and Atwoods have them but they start at $200!
Use a small chain and hook to adjust height
What about an aquarium air pump to keep the water from freezing. My brother-in-law used to "bubble" his boat when he kept it on Lake Erie over the winter.
Good ! but what is the water supply pressure? I have 4 bar in addition to a hammer effect with the well pump .... I think the float cannot support 5 bar
FYI link and code are still good. just ordered one. althought it's 3 bucks off now instead of 5 lol
Thanks! $55 is a pretty good deal considering garden hose float valves are ~$10 and a dozen dribblers cost $10, so by the time you add time it's about the same to DIY one of these.
Looks like a great system.
Ducks must wash their bills out often!
I like your thinking ❤ but I like the cups not nipples because what if they have cross beaks ? There is another better setup! The nipples I hear have a high fail rate.😢
Thanks for calling it for what it is. It's definitely a run, coop, pen. The only time i know of a chicken tractor is when they roost on mine and then they poop on it and if i don't see it on my seat i smell it all day and can't figure what i did. Have a good day.
As always, another good video! Thanks.
G'day mate. Looking ahead to fix myself up wth chickens. Looking around your channel for ideas. Thanks so much for your great videos. One question i have. With having well water with no softeners. How do these type of nipples handle the build up. I know our gravety fed dog water bowl needs cleaning out each and evertime we need to fill.
Hi, Having chickens is new to me, I picked up one of these watering buckets with the nipples on the bottom like this one, but mine didn’t have the float..,my question, is….do the chickens naturally or automatically know to/how to use it to get water or do you have to train them, if so, how?
Good ideas. I was looking at your other watering solutions. Has the aquarium heater not been able to keep up even though you have a heat lamp on the coop? Your climate and mine are about the same.
That Duck saw that clear water and was like, "Gonna Shag dat water rotten Laddie!"
I may have overlooked, but do you have a video for your automatic chicken/duck feeder?
Are we all pretending not to see the mull leaves in the fields hahaha!
You sound like "Southern Prepper 1"...check him out. You two could be brothers, 100%
great job,hey i noticed in the coop area those yellow flowers.they are goldenrod,grab all u can,get a mason jar fill it up with the flowers,add honey (Infusion) or anisette (tincture) let it sit on a shelf for a month, your body will love u for it,,,peace
Did you have to introduce each chicken to the bottom feed nipples like you introduce chicks to water?
has anyone done something like this but for rabbits? i'd think they'd need the drippers.nipples at a different angle, but other than that this looks great! i have a colony style rabbit set up and only 2 rabbits, but this would work so much better once i get into more of a meat production colony!
Why wouldn't the waterers be on the sides? By the way you might want to connect a wire to the top of that hanger on a 45 degree to take the stress.
The side mount ones with the little cups are also not good in the winter. I have had really good luck with these bottom mount style.
When did the duck arrive? What are the other chickens in there with the Barred Rocks and Bloody Mary?
AMEN
That's 2.5 days a year of waisted time! Great up date love the videos.
I knew someone would figure that out:)
Great idea.
I like the water float idea but as far as the heater goes your garden hose is going to freeze if you live in the north.
Farmer Brad Oh, OK. That makes more sense. From your video I got the impression that you thought you could continue to use the auto fill during the winter.
How did your get the chicken to use this ??
Does the water in the hose get hot between fill-up s
My ducks would never use the coop! Does yours sleep in there with the chickens?
no, just underneath it. It is lame so it can't get around very well
SSLFamilyDad aww, poor baby. Perhaps if it gets to swim more, it may heal better?
Ducks are waterfowls. You need to get them the right environment at least a kiddy pool to swim.
Can we see it in action? My wife would be skeptical :-) LOL
Does this watering idea work in the fall /winter?
Looks good. How do you keep it from freezing in the winter?
but how do you keep the hose from freezing?
true
How about the duck?
The problem with plastic bucket is over time the plastic will crack and break under the pressure of hanging. I know cause this is what we did and for a year was great, but then the heat and the cold weakened it to the point of breaking. I guess you could spend 25.00 a year on these, and not have to build anything, that's not too bad.
Not sure about that I have had several different plastic bucket feeders and wateres for 4 or more years and none are cracked or broken
Is the garden hose that you have connected to the bucket on all the time or do you turn it on only whenever the bucket runs out of water?
You can leave it on or just turn it on when you want it to fill.
Did you use an RV "white" hose for your potable water to your birds?
I did, yes, however I don't really feel that is necessary I just happened to have one
Placement should not be near a post, the excess water will eventually rot the pole
I bought one of those,, but did not like tthe idea of the nipples being on the bottom so I found one with the nipples on the bottom edge of the side of the bucket. They can also be the little cups.
Interesting 👍
Great idea for the chickens but ducks and other waterfowl need to wash their bills out for their health. You need something for them to submerge their bills under.
We have been using a dog bowl for years, how did you “teach” the chickens to use it?
the like to peck at shiny things so it doesn't take long at all. Need to remove any other water source and they will use it right away
Nice video.
Nice video Sir
Chicken water system easy to clean
You said this waterer doesn't need to be washed out? That green gunk doesn't build up inside it?
+Sue Wilkinson well I don't think it should never be cleaned out but maybe just once or twice per year I suppose would be good
Nice
They can't fly over that fence?
can we get a goat/baby goats update?
+MikeGloomberg I think it is past due time to update on those silly goats, will do very soon!
Уткам и гусям надо ноздри мыть.Для кур пойдет.
Not going to hold without lower support
Hi. Plase mp4...
why do you lock em up every night?
I tried the aquarium heater......it froze ..... And broke
did the power go out? Hard to believe that an aquarium heater could ever freeze. I used a 50 watt in a 50 gallon drum in the middle of winter here and it never froze
the waterer is to far from the feeder
Iphone 8 and x are out just unveiled
I'd rather buy the chicken waterer.
You could have automated them completely by having one of your girls do that chore. Lol
+The Cynic lol, so true!
“Girls just want to have fun..”
that fence would have cost a pretty penny
How do keep the flying predator from getting your chickens?
Provide cover for them like a tree or other cover, also a rooster helps
Too bad we didn't get a glimpse of the chickens/duck using the water bucket
+S Robin I had a clip of the barred rocks using it but it did turn out good so I had to leave it out. It took them about 5 minutes to go investigate and start drinking
cute, 'investigate' Maybe in another clip, never saw a chick drink from a nipple, I'm curious too
well did it work? no video drinking 😏
Chickens do the SAME THING!!! THEY ALL MESS the WATER!!
Pricy product... wow!
I saw one made diy on living traditions channel. He used a 5 gallon bucket (much easier to find) a swamp cooler float valve and those same chicken nipples but mounted on the side.
Way over priced?? Plastic bucket and a 2 dollar float nice try though bye bye
Oh it’s small bucket..