You can find fresh fruits and vegetables on supermarket shelves at any time of the year. It’s not a problem to buy poultry meat today. Why, then, do not summer residents stop growing their own crops and do not give up farming? We are sure that each of the gardeners and poultry farmers will tell you how products grown with their own hands are tastier, juicier and more environmentally friendly. But if even urban summer residents can maintain a vegetable garden, then raising chickens is not such an easy task. However, for our folk craftsmen, a do-it-yourself feeder is not a problem. If you wish, we will select information on homemade devices for you.
Balanced and, very importantly, timely nutrition is necessary for chickens to be healthy. But modern people have a lot to do and it’s not always possible to keep track of feeding times. It is much easier if the feeding process takes place using a device that supplies food automatically. We bring to your attention several options for homemade feeders and drinkers. We will be glad if any of the proposed models will make your life easier.
Constantly remembering poultry feeding hours is very difficult. Considering that the farmer may be away for a day or two, hopper-type feeders become an indispensable item.
The most ingenious inventions are usually very simple. This is exactly what the idea of using polypropylene pipes can be considered.
To assemble the necessary device you will need:
We attach a part called a “connecting elbow” to the polypropylene pipe. We place the resulting structure in the chicken coop. We pour food into the pipe from above, and then close the upper end of the structure with a lid. The feed is fed into the knee under the influence of gravity. As the chickens consume feed, it will be added to the knee from the pipe. In the pipe, the level of the product will gradually decrease. After a few days, it will be possible to pour a new portion of food into the pipe.
This design is good if there are few birds on the farm. Otherwise, the connecting elbow can be replaced with another pipe, securing it parallel to the floor. Birds will be able to get food from a horizontal pipe through holes in it. Such a feeder not only saves the owners time, but also space in the chicken coop: it is conveniently located and does not bother anyone.
This is how a simple feeder made from polypropylene pipe looks like. Agree that it’s difficult to come up with something simpler than this basic device
Of course, if there are a lot of chickens on the farm, you can simply make a lot of pipes for feeding them. But we will do it simpler and attach another pipe to the main one - a horizontal one, in which we will make holes
This device has one drawback: the lack of limiters. Chickens can climb onto the pipes, trample and ruin the food.
If you buy an automatic bird feeder in specialized stores, you will have to pay a decent amount. Moreover, a large farm will require several similar products. Meanwhile, there is nothing complicated in the proposed design.
When choosing a menage or portioned dog bowl to make such a feeder, do not lose sight of the fact that its diameter should be greater than the diameter of the base of the bucket
You need to prepare:
We cut holes in the bottom of the plastic bucket in accordance with the number of compartments in the container. The size of the holes themselves should allow feed to flow freely into the feed pan. The bucket and the menagerie must be connected to each other using screws.
It is better not to place the feeder on the ground, but to hang it. In this case, the likelihood that chickens will climb on it is minimal.
The food is poured into the container and the bucket is closed with a lid. The feeder can be placed on a horizontal surface or suspended so that the birds can freely get food. By hanging the bucket by the handle in the right place, you can be sure that the chickens are fully provided with food for several days.
Construction requires very little time and the simplest materials. Prepare:
The plastic container must be emptied of its contents, rinsed thoroughly and dried. Carefully cut out the front part. We make a cut in the handle of the bottle so that it can be hung on the mesh that surrounds the chicken coop. We pour the food directly into the bottle. It is important that the container is at a height that is as comfortable as possible for the feeding bird.
The feeder is constructed in a matter of minutes. It’s good if the chicken coop is fenced with a mesh, otherwise a piece of chain-link can be simply pulled in the right place
Another option for a bunker can be made from a sheet of plywood. We cut out vertical high walls and build a box without a front part. The height of the feeder is approximately 90 cm. Thanks to this size, you can fill in a large amount of feed at once.
The feed should not get stuck at the exit. To do this, place a piece of plywood at the bottom of the box so that it has a slight slope towards the front. Now the bulk feed will roll down to where it will be accessible to the chickens. The optimal slope when using granulated feed is 20-25 degrees, and when feeding grain - 12-15 degrees.
A plywood feeder is also a simple device. It’s just more difficult to care for than plastic products. An antiseptic coating can help, but plastic is still more hygienic
The horizontal area in front of the inclined plane is the place where the feed will fall. A common problem with many home-made structures is the lack of restrictions, thanks to which chickens cannot climb into the feeder, spill the feed and spoil the feed with the products of their vital activity. In this case, the problem is solved with the help of restrictive sides. The front side should be at least 6 cm, and the side sides should be twice as large.
The advantages of this design are its spaciousness and security. Using this device, you can be sure that the food will last for a long time, it will be spent rationally, it will not spill and will not be spoiled
All you have to do is attach the front wall and you're done. The feeder will last a long time if it is thoroughly treated with antiseptic preparations. Use a spray gun for this purpose. A finished and even elegant look will be given to the product by coating with acrylic paint. You can assemble all the parts together using a screwdriver and self-tapping screws.
Food-grade plastic is an excellent material from which you can make comfortable drinking bowls and similar “plates” for chickens. The undoubted advantage of these devices is their mobility. They can be carried and placed where it is convenient for the farmer.
To work you need to prepare:
It is necessary to make holes in the buckets in such a way that the birds can freely reach water and food, but cannot get inside. To make the openings uniform and neat, you can use a template. By applying it to the walls of the buckets and tracing it with a felt-tip pen, we get the contours of future holes.
From an aesthetic point of view, these drinking bowls and feeders are very good. But they are also incredibly functional.
We mark a hole by drilling a hole in each with an 8 mm diameter drill. To cut out the openings we use a jigsaw. For plastic, a file is suitable for both wood and metal, but you need to choose a product with a small tooth.
We make two limiters from a piece of polypropylene pipe: for food and for water. Thanks to this device, the neck of the container will not touch the bottom of the bucket, and it will be possible to control the supply of feed and water. Using a jigsaw, we divide the pipe into sections of 10 and 15 cm. Take a short piece and drill three holes at a distance of 3 cm from the edge with a drill of 20 mm in diameter. We also drill holes in a long section of pipe with the same drill, but at a distance of 5 cm from the edge. Next, we use a jigsaw to cut out segments in a long section to make something like a crown with three teeth.
It is very convenient that the buckets have handles by which these structures can be transported to the place of use. There you can either install devices or hang them all by the same handles
Fill the containers with water and food. We put a long limiter on the bottle with food, and a short one on the one with water. Cover the containers with buckets and turn them over. The devices are ready. So easily and quickly both a feeder and a drinking bowl can be made from materials that are easy to obtain. Thanks to the presence of handles, both devices are convenient to carry. This is the most hygienic and successful option.
There were more ways to make a fattening device. To eliminate this obvious injustice, we invite you to watch a video on how to make a very simple waterer for chickens from plastic bottles that can be bought at any store.
Chickens, like other animals, need proper and careful care, because they bring us eggs and meat. Breeding healthy chickens is not complete without water and balanced feed. When the population of laying hens is impressive, it becomes necessary to install an automatic waterer for chickens. She will give the daily requirement for the chicken. A high-quality automatic drinker does not allow the container to tip over and get the chicken wet.
In our article we will talk about the types of drinking bowls, what requirements apply to them and help you make a drinking bowl with your own hands.
A good automatic drinker should please the farmer with its convenience, durability, clean water and safety. Let's take a closer look here:
Fluid consumption directly depends on the ambient temperature, the type and humidity of the feed, and the age of the laying hens. The average amount of water required for a healthy individual is at least 500 milliliters per day, which is twice the amount of food.
In northern regions, drinking bowls must be protected from freezing. This problem can be solved by manufacturing and installing a small heater under the drinking bowl tank.
According to the principle and scheme of action, automatic drinkers are:
Simple containers do not require much effort and time to maintain. Usually these are simple plastic basins and zinc troughs. Each chicken tries to knock over such containers or even plunge into the drinking bowl. As a result, the hen gets wet, spoils the water with her paws and makes it unfit for drinking.
A wet chicken loses heat and gets sick. Frozen birds may die.
The main principle of such an automatic drinker is that liquid is supplied when the chicken triggers the nipple mechanism. Thus, water does not stagnate and is supplied fresh gradually, which reduces its consumption. It is also used to feed barely hatched broiler chickens.
There are several types of such drinkers:
To make a nipple self-drinker, you need a plastic bulk bucket. The required number of holes with a diameter of 9 mm is drilled. Nipples are screwed into them, the drinking bowl itself is suspended to the required height and filled. Among the advantages, we note the fast production. But the disadvantages are impressive - independent replenishment of liquid and frequent washing. This self-drinker is suitable for a small number of birds.
It is better to build a drinking bowl with drip eliminators. This design is connected to a water supply or a large tank. It is more difficult to install, but will provide good water for large livestock.
For assembly we need:
For young hens and chicks, it would be much better to use a nipple brand “360” (circular, working 360 degrees). This will allow the chickens to drink water comfortably, and the farmer will not have to change the height of the drinker when the chickens grow up. For adult chickens, “180” (working from vertical pressure) is suitable.
| Step | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | We securely fix the pipe. |
| 2 |  | We mark the pipe for the holes for the nipples. Don't forget about the gap of up to 35 centimeters. |
| 3 |  | Using a drill or screwdriver, we drill holes according to our markings. |
| 4 |  | After drilling you should get round holes. |
| 5 |  | Next we use a tap, we use it to cut threads in the holes. |
| 6 |  | After applying the thread, remove the chips (from the inside too). |
| 7 |  | We screw the nipples into the marked holes. |
| 8 |  | Fix the pipe vertically. |
| 9 |  | We apply threads to both edges of the pipe. |
| 10 |  | On one side, install an adapter for the hose into the cut thread. |
| 11 |  | We install a plug on the back side of the pipe. |
| 12 |  | We prepare drip eliminators under the nipples. |
| 13 |  | Install - put it on the pipe and snap the mechanism into place. |
| 14 |  | We fasten the resulting structure to the wall of the poultry house with clamps. We connect the other end of the hose to a vertically located or low-pressure liquid source. |
To prevent the structure from leaking, we treat all joints with FUM tape.
It is usually installed outside the cages or poultry house. This design does not take up much space, can be installed on any frame, is very convenient for the farmer, and the hens are provided with moisture.
The main advantage of this self-drinker is its simplicity. It is easy to maintain, quickly and reliably installed, and saves clean water. The material usually used is high-quality PVC hose and food-grade plastic - all to preserve water quality and reliability of the design.
To create such a system you will need:
Assembly order:
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | We install the rail along the length of the structure, or use a metal corner. |
| 2 | We lay a hose along the length of the poultry house and plan the location of the drinking bowl. |
| 3 | If there is not enough space for an automatic drinker, then we lay a second hose. |
| 4 | We outline places for cutting the hose for future bowls. |
| 5 | We cut the hose for the tee to connect both hoses into one system. |
| 6 | Having connected the hoses, cut the hose in the designated places and install it between the ends of the bowl. |
| 7 | We attach the drinker to the frame with clamps. |
| 8 | On the last bowl, we leave the outermost fitting closed, so the water will not escape. |
| 9 | We connect the system to the water source with a fitting. |
A siphon-based drinker is often called a vacuum drinker. It looks like an inverted water container, with a bowl underneath. The container is located just below the sides of a large water bowl. With this design, nothing spills, and the bowl constantly fills under its own weight. This option is convenient if it is difficult to install water supply nearby. This is also the disadvantage - you need to replenish the water supply manually.
A siphon self-drinker can be made from a three-liter jar, two small wooden sticks 10-12 cm long and any bowl.
Now in more detail:
A regular siphon drinker is ready. As you drink the water, it will fill the bowl to the same level.
The second version of the drinking bowl will be no less difficult.
For it we will need:
| Step | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 | Cut off the neck of a large bottle for a saucer. |
| 2 | We connect the lids with their centers facing each other. |
| 3 | Use a drill or an awl to make a hole in the lids. |
| 4 | We screw the bolt into them and thread the nut. |
| 5 | In a smaller bottle, make a hole as close to the neck as possible. |
| 6 | We fill the smaller bottle with water and screw on the cap. |
| 7 | We secure it from tipping over, or place it behind the mesh of the poultry house. |
We talked briefly about simple containers earlier. But it is worth finding out what they are based on.
The name speaks for itself; these are the simplest designs. We pay for simplicity by constant monitoring of watering, breeding of harmful microorganisms and pollution.
Let's briefly list the popular types.
Everything is quite simple: the pipe is connected to a water source and closed with a plug at the other end. Holes are marked and made in the pipe itself, as shown in the photo. We advise you to clean the edges of the cut holes for the safety of the chickens. But you should monitor the water level in the pipe and prevent spillage.
Suitable for a small family of laying hens. All we need is a bottle (1-5 liters) with a hole drilled in the cap and a “180” nipple inserted into it.
As in the previous case, a bottle and a metal profile are used. This type of drinker is located behind the cage or poultry house.
It is constructed quite simply: the metal profile is bent from the edges according to the saucer principle, riveted, the bottle is fixed in a vertical position just below the edges of the profile, thus the vacuum principle is activated.
For high productivity of chickens it is necessary to create proper condition for keeping, and one of these conditions is the necessary provision of water to the bird. Typically, one individual consumes about 500 grams per day. Using a bucket or similar container can be very difficult because birds often tip over such waterers.
The device is an excellent alternative to a closed container. Making an automatic waterer for chickens with your own hands is quite simple. To do this, you just need to get a plastic bottle. The drinking bowl is not only easy to use, but also very profitable, and there is plenty of material for manufacturing in every household’s yard.
For the most ordinary open drinking bowl, it is possible to use various containers; even a bucket and a kitchen bowl will do. But owners with experience already know that this option is not effective due to the fact that hens and chicks are not particularly careful and often put their paws into a container of water. They pollute it, turn it over, therefore, this is unacceptable for reasons of hygiene and economy.
Before making an automatic drinker, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with a number of important rules:
This is one of the ideal conditions for keeping chickens, which will greatly facilitate the task and reduce the waste of valuable time. For example, poultry farms have long been equipped with nipple automatic drinkers.
Need to know! The sippy cup must be made made from food grade plastic, and also do not contain paint or fuel residue inside.
To make a drinking bowl with your own hands, you do not need professional skills. It is enough to purchase a bottle of 5-7 liters, such a container can be purchased with bottled water. You also need to find a small bath and several clamps - they will secure the filled container. Next, you need to turn the bottle over, secure it with clamps and you're done. The same products with a similar design are sold in stores.
Today, nipple drinkers are especially in demand. Building the device is a little more complicated and you will need the following:
Big list necessary elements should not be intimidating, the entire structure is assembled extremely simply.
Nipple-type drinkers, unlike their analogues, are a model for automated water supply. Allowed use any container, even a bucket, the main condition is a dropper. One of the simplest nipple systems is the following: nipples are mounted in a suspended bucket, they are located at the very bottom. The product can also supply water from a tank or be equipped with a flow-through system. To create an automatic bird drinker you will need basic plumbing knowledge, then the device will be of equal quality with factory devices.
Manufacturing process
Such an automatic drinker is the best option, because various microorganisms do not form in the water due to the fact that the water does not stagnate in the device. The system is fully automated, which means the birds will have the opportunity to drink water at any time. There is a small drawback - a relatively small waste of money, and an adult bird can disturb the structure by jumping onto the pipe, but the construction of a small fence will solve this problem. Simplified version of nipple automated drinking bowl.
It's done like this
Everything is very simple, the device is ready!
The device uses glass jars of different sizes; water from the inverted container gradually flows into the bowl in which the container is placed. Liquid retention occurs due to pressure in the jar and at the top of the bowl. This is done like this - as water is removed from the bowl, a certain amount of air passes into the inverted container and, accordingly, as much water flows out as was drunk by the chickens. The jar should be well secured and given structure maximum rigidity. Chickens are quite curious and restless, so they can easily disrupt the entire system and overturn the container.
H then you need to build:
Vacuum plastic drinker- is done extremely simply. It is important that the rim of the bowl is rounded or lined with rubber so that the chickens cannot injure their necks.
Manufacturing process
Vacuum drinker made of 2 bottles– the device is also easy to make, and the materials are right at hand. Manufacturing process
Vacuum drinker from a pipe– the product is placed at the level of the bird’s back, in this case they will not be able to penetrate there with their paws.
Manufacturing process
All plumbing supplies are sold in the store.
Need to know! In winter, it is necessary to provide the drinking bowl with moderate heating - aquarium heaters are suitable for such an organization; they will cope with this task perfectly. Need to know! A drinking bowl is being built for chickens on the same principle, as for adult chickens, but the vessel should be smaller.
All types of waterers work according to the same system - providing chickens with an automatic water supply. The structure can be fenced with a cage or left open, but the first option is more convenient. No special financial costs are required, and there is plenty of material to make the device. You can also use your imagination and build a birdbath with your own hands according to your own preferences.
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It is difficult to obtain high-quality eggs and high productivity from laying hens without providing it with good conditions. A balanced diet and clean, fresh drink are two basic conditions for raising poultry. Considering that a chicken should drink up to 500 ml of water per day, it is advisable to equip chicken coops with automatic drinkers. Such devices will provide birds with round-the-clock access to clean water and protect them from dehydration.
Any poultry farmer knows that chickens can overturn a container of water or introduce dirt into it. If you put a simple basin in the poultry house, they can easily buy it. To prevent this, a good chicken drinker must meet certain requirements.
Strong and stable. A drinking bowl for laying hens should easily withstand the pressure of a flock of birds running to drink. In addition, domestic chickens are big fidgets and run around the chicken coop without clearing the way. Therefore, a flimsy or unstable drinker will quickly be overturned or broken. The result is that the chickens will be left without water.
There are several types of drinkers for laying hens:
The simplest drinking bowl is a bowl. The only requirement for it is that it must be low so that the chickens can reach the water. Of the minuses:
To partially eliminate these shortcomings, you can cover the container with a grill and put weights on the bottom. However, this option is best used as an emergency or temporary option. In any case, the water in the drinking bowls will be constantly dirty, which will definitely not benefit the laying hens.
For this you will need:
There are two types of nipples:
The distance between watering points is at least 30 cm, otherwise the chickens will crowd. It is optimal to do 3 pieces per meter.
Nipple drinker diagram
That's all. There should be no difficulties with manufacturing, and all components can be obtained without problems. The nipple drinker can be made fully automatic. You can connect it to the water supply and the problem with clean water will be solved.
For this you will need a regular plastic bucket. The technology is exactly the same as with the pipe. Holes are drilled in the bottom of the bucket and nipples are screwed into them.
The advantages of this method:
In addition to the bucket, for nipple devices, you can use any container - for example, plastic bottles.
The simplest option. To make it you will need:
Scheme of a drinking bowl from a 10 liter bottle
It's done simply:
The water will be kept level with the hole in the bowl.
The advantages of this design:
This drinking bowl is perfect as an emergency option.
Making such a device is also not difficult. There are two main options.
In the first case, you will need a special stand and a three-liter jar. Stands can be purchased at any specialized store; they are very cheap.
The jar is filled with water, covered with a stand on top, turned over and placed on the ground.
The principle of its operation is based on pressure, which prevents water from spilling out of the jar. When water is poured into a bowl, a vacuum is created inside the jar, which prevents it from spilling out of the container.
Vacuum drinker
The advantages of this option:
The second option can be made from two plastic bottles with a capacity of 5 and 2-2.5 liters.
The drinking bowl for laying hens is ready.
Video about making a vacuum drinker yourself:
This option is easy to do and is suitable for a large number of laying hens.
To make it you will need:
Manufacturing instructions:
Any of the popular drinkers is not so difficult to make with your own hands. The simplest options can be constructed from available materials. Those that are more complex, for example, nipple ones, will require some investment. But the expense will be worth it - the birds will have clean and fresh water, which is important for their health and productivity.
←Previous article Next article →When giving drinking water to chickens in open bowls, the birds spill the water and overturn the bowls, and changing them throughout the day is troublesome for the farmer. Installing special drinking bowls will protect drinking water from contamination and splashing and ensure its continuous supply to chickens.
Making drinkers with your own hands will help you save money and adapt these drinkers to the specific conditions of keeping poultry.
Regardless of the design and manufacturing method, drinking bowls for chickens made independently must meet the following requirements:
Open drinkers are usually located at the back level of adult chickens to provide them with ease of drinking and prevent them from swimming in drinking water.
The structure should not have sharp edges or protruding nails that could injure birds.It is important to remember that drinking bowls must be made of lightweight durable materials and firmly fixed in place in the chicken coop so that the chickens cannot tip over or damage the drinkers. Glass containers should not be used in the design due to their heavy weight and the risk of breaking.
For plastic parts of the drinker that come into contact with water, it is advisable to use food-grade plastic; in particular, it is not recommended to use containers for paints or varnishes for storing water, since these containers are made of plastic, which releases substances harmful to birds into the water.
Depending on the mechanism for supplying water to birds, the following main types of drinkers are distinguished: 
The main advantage of nipple drinkers is that the drinking water in them is completely protected from debris or spillage, and chickens drink through special nipple valves, grasping them with their beaks and sucking out the water.
Drip drinkers are a type of nipple drinkers with an attached drip tray. The disadvantages of this type of drinkers include the need to install a significant part of the nipple valves in order to avoid crowding of chickens in line for drinking.
Vacuum drinkers are very easy to make and do not require the purchase of nipples, but they are more suitable for chickens than for adult birds.Cup drinkers are more difficult to make yourself, but they are more reliable than vacuum ones and are suitable for a large number of chickens.
Siphon drinkers work on the principle of communicating vessels and allow them to be filled with water without going inside the chicken coop, but they require periodic cleaning of debris.
Depending on the type of water supply, drinking bowls can also be:
Automatic drinkers only require regular changes of water in the tank, ensuring that the drinking bowl is filled at the required level due to the design features. These include vacuum and cup drinkers. In siphon and nipple drinkers, the water supply is regulated by the farmer and the chickens themselves, respectively.
One of the profitable types is the production of fuel briquettes.
Laying hen nests can be made in a variety of ways. Each of them is described in detail in.
Red-capped chickens were bred in Great Britain and are now a rare breed. You can find out more information about these birds.
When choosing the type of drinking bowl, it is important to take into account the availability of materials on the farm for its manufacture or the possibility of purchasing them. Some designs may have several implementation options, for example, vacuum and siphon drinkers can be made from a plastic bottle, while nipple drinkers will require harder plastic.
To make a drinking bowl of this type, you will need the following materials and tools:
The number of connecting adapters must be determined depending on the design of the chicken coop and the method of supplying drinking water. Water can be supplied:
In other cases, it is better to use a water tank, but it is important to remember that it must be removed and rinsed periodically.
A schematic diagram of a nipple drinker is shown in Figure 1.
Procedure for making a nipple drinker:
Drip pans are small plastic cups for collecting water (Fig. 2) and are installed to prevent falling drops of drinking from getting the coop flooring wet.
The pipe pattern may be broken, for example, when located in the corner of the chicken coop, but all pipes should be located at approximately the same height (25-30 cm) so that the chickens can reach the nipple with their beak.
Immediately after screwing in the nipples (before installing plugs and clamps), pipe sections should be thoroughly clear of plastic sawdust, since pockets of water blooms can form on them in the pipe.
The nipple drinker tank should be rinsed and cleaned periodically as shown in step 8, turning off the riser valve before removing the tank to prevent water from leaking into the coop.
A vacuum drinker is an inverted container of water, lowered upside down into a drinking bowl. Water is held in the container due to the difference in air pressure in it and atmospheric pressure on the water released in the bowl. Thus, the water in the bowl automatically rises as you drink it to the level of the edge of the neck of the container (tank).
This type of drinker is the easiest to make. For a vacuum drinker you will need:
A plastic bottle or any other household container can be suitable as a plastic tank, but it is important to remember that the neck of the container should be smaller in diameter than the bowl.
Installation of a vacuum drinker occurs in the following stages:
The height of the bowl can be changed, depending on the age of the bird, by placing plywood plates under the bowl. The tank mounts should be installed so that the tank can be easily removed for rinsing and refilling with fresh water.
If you drill an additional hole from the top in a hard plastic tank, the process of adding water will be greatly simplified, since you will no longer need to remove the tank from its mounts.
Tanks for vacuum drinkers with ready-made holes can be purchased at construction markets.
It is important to remember that if there is no top hole in the tank, its volume should not exceed 20 liters, otherwise it will be difficult to change and rinse such a tank.A vacuum drinker with a hole at the top does not have to be installed near the wall of the chicken coop; it can be installed on a stand either in the center of the chicken coop or in.
This drinker requires regular addition of water, but is very easy to install and allows you to pour water from outside the chicken coop. To make it you will need:
Any rubber hose or medical rubber tubes for a dropper will be suitable as a tube.
Procedure for installing a siphon drinker:
To fill the bowl with water, open the shutter from the outside and wait 10-20 seconds, then close it. The farmer should determine the exact filling time experimentally.
The bowl should be small in size and fit tightly to the wall with fasteners to prevent chickens from turning it over, but at the same time it should be easy to remove to clean out any debris that has gotten into it.
You can combine a siphon and vacuum drinker into a single design if you use a tank closed at the top to provide a pressure difference, then to fill the bowl you will not need to open and close the valve on the tube every time, but use it only when cleaning the tank from mold.To make a drinking cup you will need the following materials:
The size of the plastic cup should be selected depending on the number of chickens.
Up to 5 birds can drink from one wide cup with a diameter of 25 mm at the same time, so for 20 birds you will need at least two drinkers, provided that the birds take turns drinking.A schematic diagram of a cup drinker is shown in Figure 4.
The principle of its operation is such that when the drinker is empty, the spring expands and a gasket comes out from the hole between the connection of the wide and narrow pipes, and water flows into the cup from the tank from above. When the cup is filled with water, its weight increases and compresses the spring, blocking access to water with a silicone gasket.
Procedure for making a drinking cup:
It should be remembered that the cup fastener must allow water to pass into it and have a hole the same size as the silicone gasket.
It is best to make a hole in the plug using a piece of iron (for example, fittings) of a suitable diameter heated over a fire. To remove and clean the tank, a tap and a sealed disconnecting clamp must be installed in the narrow pipe, as in a nipple drinker.
Before installing a cup drinker, you should accurately determine the number of movable cups depending on the number of chickens. When installing several cups, you should outline a plan for their location and connect all the narrow tubes extending from each wide tube with a cup fixed in the floor using connecting adapters with one common pipe leading to the water tank.
With a small number of chickens, a simple and economical way would be to install a drinking bowl from a plastic bottle. This drinker does not have an automatic water supply system, but its manufacture is much simpler compared to the design options described above.
For installation, you need to take a plastic bottle with a volume of one and a half or two liters and cut oblong holes in it 3-4 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. Such a drinker should be installed horizontally at a height of 15-20 cm from the floor of the chicken coop, away from the perches to prevent rapid contamination water for chickens. The bottle cap must be tightly closed.
In the simplest version, fresh water is poured into the drinker directly through the drinking holes, but you can combine this design with other types of drinkers to automatically supply water, for example, by lowering a siphon drinker hose into one of the holes.
When installing several bottle drinkers, they can be filled from one common open tank using tubes with plugs (siphon type) or hermetically connected to a tank tightly closed at the top (vacuum type).
So, when making drinking bowls for chickens, it is important to take into account the number of birds and the design of the chicken coop, as well as the ability to regularly maintain the created structure. Careful selection of materials and processing of metal burrs during installation will create a reliable design and will prevent the chickens from getting hurt.
