New Automatic Watering System::: One Year On Update

[Totally Scrambled]

I've been thinking about this for some time now and have finally taken the plunge. OK it probably won't work when the temperature drops below freezing but for the rest of the time it should work a treat.
Before ordering Online I rang the company just to make sure I was getting everything I needed and they were very helpful which is a plus. I ordered all the bits on Friday afternoon and they arrived early Monday morning, so that's another plus and popped up to the run to plumb it all in.
It took me a little over an hour to do, working out where each drinker should go, fitting the pipe and fine tuning it.
It is fed from a water butt in the run which I had to drill a hole in to fit the feed pipe which means they have access to over 200 litres of water when it's full. Just needs topping up with water once in a while with the hose.
In all it cost us £30 for four drinkers, the connector to the butt, 7 metres of pipe, an inline filter and some T joints and P&P which provides enough for our 40ish chooks but I reckon if you only had a few chooks you could do a smaller system for just over a tenner.
£30 might sound a little pricey but it comes out at about the same amount as our other drinkers which will now become our emergency standbys.
It took the chooks several hours to work up the courage to go anywhere near the stange new devices but once they'd plucked up the nerve they all piled in. Each drinker cup can fit two chook heads in it
Here's a few photos.
The connection to the butt and filter

The drinkers and one brave chook



I might try and tidy things up a bit but for now it is doing the job brilliantly
Dom

[fishpond]

Can you fill it up with beer?
If you can, party on dude!

[stace]

Dom very good idea, will save you alot of tiem. I only have 6 now so one big drinker is all i need

[lancashire lass]

looks good

Funny you should mention a new watering system - only yesterday I was investigating water nipples. For larger flocks, a similar set up like yours could be adapted with the nipples instead of water cups. I was just curious about using some plastic bottles for the moment and installing one in the coop run for those early hot summer mornings when I might have to consider leaving the pop hole door open overnight if it starts getting too warm.

[Totally Scrambled]

)t' looks good

Funny you should mention a new watering system - only yesterday I was investigating water nipples. For larger flocks, a similar set up like yours could be adapted with the nipples instead of water cups. I was just curious about using some plastic bottles for the moment and installing one in the coop run for those early hot summer mornings when I might have to consider leaving the pop hole door open overnight if it starts getting too warm.

The company I got it from do several different types of drinker end, one of which might be what you are looking for. I got the stuff Here so you could have a look
Dom

[lancashire lass]

excellent site - I'll definitely look into this more, thank you

[Totally Scrambled]

It's now been for days since I put it in and it has worked well with four drinker cups providing more than enough water for our 40ish chooks throughout the day. The only time the drinkers get overcrowded is when they are let out in the morning but that is no different from the bun fight around the old drinkers first thing.
Overall I have to rate it as a success and would recommend it to anyone as it definitely beats humping drinkers around, refilling them and wondering if they will last in hot weather if you have to go out.
Dom

[p.penn]

Looks a really good idea, especially for the number of chooks you have

[Chicken drumstick]

Great post Dom

Something i want to do , i bought a larger waterer (6 ltrs ) but it doesnt go far and this is my busy time of the year working long hours i would hate them to be without water even just for an hour .

[Totally Scrambled]

It's still working well and we haven't had to top up the water but yet so it has saved quite a bit of time and effort.
The chooks can have as much water as they want with no worries about them running out.
Overall I would say it was a great success
Dom

[manda]

Looks really good Dom

[Totally Scrambled]

Just a quick update.
For the first time since setting it all up we have had to refill the water butt today. There has only been a tiny amount of rain here to help keep the butt topped up, so 150 litres in the butt has lasted just over a month.
That has saved us humping about 4 gallons of water a day to keep the chooks watered, a saving of energy as well as time.
I'm still counting the set up as a great success
Dom

[Totally Scrambled]

Well it's been a year since we installed it so I thought I had better give an update.
On the whole it has worked very well with only a few days where it hasn't worked and we've needed to put the drinkers out.
These were freezing days where the water froze in the pipes and cups although it was amusing to watch the chooks banging away at the blocks of ice
There have only been a couple of days where gunk clogged it up but that just needed a quick clean out of the butt and pipes and it was up and running again.
The gunk came from leaves etc. washing off the coop roof and building up in the butt. I'll have to find some way of stopping it or filtering it in some way.
I have to say it has done the job very well and cut down the amount of humping stuff up and down the garden
Dom

[Sara]

What a great idea Dom

I wonder if i could set something similar up, you've got my brain going now