How to make do-it-yourself drinkers for chickens?

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

As drinking bowls for chickens, the owners of farmsteads most often use just all sorts of unnecessary, outdated dishes - old pots, buckets, basins. But such containers are suitable for this purpose, unfortunately, not too well. Water in buckets, pots and basins, for obvious reasons, gets dirty very quickly. And this, in turn, can lead to an outbreak of various infectious diseases.

To avoid mortality, in home gardens and farms it is better to use such drinkers for chickens and hens, the design of which does not allow debris to enter the water. If desired, such containers can be purchased ready-made, for example, via the Internet. But it will be much cheaper, of course, to make comfortable drinkers with your own hands.

What designs can be used

All drinkers used today on farms and backyards are classified into three main varieties:

• nipple;
• microcup;
• vacuum.

Nipple designs are most often used when the bird is kept incells. But sometimes such convenient drinkers are also used for outdoor chicken breeding.

Micro cup designs are less common in poultry houses, but still quite popular with farmers. Vacuum drinkers can be installed both in cages and simply in poultry houses with floor maintenance. Such designs are very often used for very small chickens.

What requirements should do-it-yourself drinkers meet

If desired, in cages or in a poultry house, you can install self-assembled water containers of all the types described above. But in any case, do-it-yourself drinkers for chickens must meet the following safety requirements:

• only the highest quality, environmentally friendly material - ceramics, plastic can be used for the manufacture of such containers;
• drinkers should be strong enough and stable;
• tanks should be made of a material that is easy to clean from dirt.

The easiest do-it-yourself drinker for chickens from a plastic bottle

In most cases, containers designed for water for poultry have a completely simple design. To make the simplest drinker for chickens with your own hands, you will need to prepare:

• plain plastic bottle;
• scissors;
• piece of wire.

This type of drinker for very young chickens should be made from a 0.5-1 liter bottle. For older youngsters, it is worth usingmore capacity. In this case, it would be best to make a drinker for chickens from a bottle of 1.5-2.5 liters.

The container prepared for assembly should first be tightly closed with a lid. Next, the bottle must be laid in a horizontal position. Then, with scissors in the plastic, several small holes should be cut with a knife or sharp scissors. The size of the holes should be such that the chickens can easily poke their noses into them. This will be enough for the bird. You don't need to make holes too big. Otherwise, all sorts of garbage will subsequently fall into the bottles.

Chicken drinkers made in this way should be wrapped in two places around the edges with wire and fixed, for example, to the bars of the brooder wall or to the fence.

Vacuum containers

Drinkers of this type are also made using a very simple technology. In this case, a plastic bottle or canister, or an ordinary glass jar, can be used as a container for water.

The volume of vacuum drinkers, as in the first case, is selected taking into account the age of the chickens. For newly hatched chicks, for example, a 0.5 liter jar is suitable. For older young animals, it will be more convenient to use such a container for 1-3 liters.

What materials will be needed

Such drinkers also have a fairly simple design. It will not be difficult to make them if necessary. To assemble such a drinker for chickens with your own hands, you will need to prepare:

• 1.5L plastic bottle;
• plastic bowl or plate,the diameter of which should be slightly larger than the diameter of the bottle;
• stationery knife;
• screw with nut.

How to make a drinker

You can make a water tank for this type of chicken using the following technology:

• at the bottom of the bottle in its wall, at a level just below the height of the sides of the plate, make a small hole with a clerical knife;
• screw the bottle to the bowl with a self-tapping screw.

The diameter of the bowl used to make this type of bowl should be such that the distance from its sides to the walls of the bottle does not exceed 2.5 cm. Otherwise, the chickens, pushing, will step into the water and get wet.

It's easy to make a vacuum container for chickens with your own hands. At the same time, drinkers of this variety usually cost literally a penny. However, structures of this type, unfortunately, have one rather serious drawback. In this case, the water in the bottle has to be changed manually very often. And this, of course, is not very convenient.

Nipple drinkers

To save yourself from the need for daily water changes, it is worth installing more complex nipple drinkers for chickens in the hen house or in cages.

What materials are needed

Cabins of this type are usually made using the following materials and tools:

• hacksaws;
• drills;
• screwdriver;
• water storage tanks;
• nipples 360;
• plastic pipe 1 m long;
• two plugs;
• flex hose;
• adapter.

Nipples for such a drinker can be ordered, for example, via the Internet. The water tank in this case is usually used very voluminous.

How to make a do-it-yourself nipple drinker for chickens

Assemble this type of drinker in most cases as follows:

• mark the location of the nipples on the pipe with a marker;
• drill holes in the marked places using a 9 mm drill;
• installed in the holes of the nipple;
• close the ends of the pipe with plugs;
• using a flexible hose, connect the pipe to the water tank;
• drip eliminators are put on the nipples.

At the final stage, the structure assembled in this way is fixed on the wall of the house with wire or clamps. The height of the nipple drinker is chosen according to the age and height of the chicks.

Drop eliminators for this type of nipple drinkers are easiest to make from plastic bottles. From such containers, you must first cut off the bottoms. Next, the resulting "cups" should be fixed on the pipe under each nipple on a hook, bent, for example, from wire.

Nipple drinker from a bucket

It will be relatively easy to assemble the construction described above with your own hands. But if there is no propylene pipe at hand, you can make a nipple drinker using an old plasticbuckets.

Make such a design as follows:

• 9 mm holes are drilled around the circumference with an indent of about 10 cm from the edge in the bottom of the bucket;
• inserted into the holes of the nipple;
• turn the bucket over and hang it on the wall in the house;
• pouring water into a bucket.

What you need to know

Place such drinkers in the chicken coop in such a way that the nipples are approximately at the height of the chickens' heads. Chickens are pretty smart birds. However, if the nipples are placed too high, the chicks will simply not understand what they are for and will not use them for their intended purpose.

Installing nipple drinkers for chickens, however, like any other, is always in the shade. Otherwise, the water in the summer season in such containers will start to heat up too much. And this, of course, in turn can cause discomfort to the bird. In addition, plastic drinkers in the heat can also begin to release harmful substances into the water.

How to heat water

Drinkers made of plastic bottles for chickens, vacuum, like nipple ones, can be quite convenient to use. However, no matter what design is installed in the poultry house, in winter, the owner of the household plot may also face the problem of freezing water in a container made by one's own hands. Modern breeds of chickens in most cases have very dense plumage. And they usually keep such chickens in unheated barns.

To heat water in drinking bowls for chickens in winter, thermostats designed for installation in aquariums are most often used. Such devices can be independently configured to the required parameters. That is, the water in the drinker when using the thermostat, regardless of the microclimate in the poultry house, will always have the same temperature set by the owner of the chickens.