Backyard chicken keepers with more than a
dozen chickens
often turn to bucket waterers for clean, economical
drinking
waterer. By installing multiple chicken nipples
in the bottom of a five gallon bucket, you can provide water for up to
50 chickens. (Be sure to provide at least one cup of water per
chicken and to ask no more than 17 chickens to share the same nipple.)
We recommend that you buy the 3 pack DIY chicken
waterer kit for up to 50 birds, the 5 pack DIY kit for up to 83
birds, the 10 pack DIY kit for up to 166 birds, the 20 pack DIY kit for
up to 332 birds, or the 40 pack DIY kit for up to 664 birds. The
39 page instruction file that will ship on your CD gives information on
building a simple bucket waterer, a heated bucket waterer, and a PVC
pipe waterer, along with many other options.
Drop
a note in your order of the 10
pack, 20 pack, or 40 pack DIY kit
and we'll leave out your hanging wires (unnecessary when making bucket
waterers) and will throw in an extra 1, 2, or 4 nipples (depending on
kit
size) instead. Unfortunately, we are unable to include extra
nipples in kits 5 pack and smaller.
Want to see more innovative
waterers? Check out
recent blog posts about bucket waterers.
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I built one this last summer and at first I thought it was great. I did find that I had to clean it often because of debris that the chickens were dropping in the holes around the sides. I also found that I had to heat the water in the winter and I used foam insulation on the hose leading to the bucket. The chickens destroyed the insulation. I use a bird bath heater in the tank but that doesn't work for the hose. Now I am deciding between a hanging bucket or the PVC pipe system. We are building a new chicken house this spring and I think that the bucket would be easier. Looking forward to the warm and dryer season.