Lately, we have been making progress on our tasks to get prepared for the cold winter months. One project was getting water for our chickens and making sure that it would not freeze. Previously, we used heated pet bowls, but this would require us to change the water almost every day because the chickens would get it dirty. Then when walking through our local Rural King, we think we found the answer to our problem. What we found was a heated horizontal nipple waterer.
A few years ago, we switched to using the watering nipples and glass rabbit bottles during the spring and summer months. The reason was because they were a much cleaner alternative to watering our chickens, as compared to other waterers, and because we could fill up a watering container that would last our chickens several days to a couple of weeks. The only issue with these alternatives was that the water would freeze during the winter.
While walking around our local Rural King, we found horizontal nipple chicken waters’. When we saw it, we were not sure if it would work, but we thought we would give it a try. It cost us around $40.
After looking at it for a little bit, we thought that if it worked we could make one ourselves. The materials we used were a 5 gallon bucket, some horizontal nipples (that were ordered online from mypetchicken.com), and a heating element from an old pet bowl. The heater is going on the outside of the bucket. They do have heaters that can go inside the bucket, but we ruled against that because we would have to cut a place in the bucket, which might let things get into the water and make it dirty. So, we made one and now have two of them to try.
In a few months, I hope to do am update post on how the chicken bucket with horizontal nipples worked. If we find that it worked out well I will give better details on how we made ours. So for now I will just show pictures of the one we bought from Rural King. If any of you have tried something like this please leave a comment below. I would like to hear your thoughts on it.
Thanks for reading!
We made our chickens waterer using a 5 gallon bucket. We punched holes in the bottom and installed the nipples that we purchased from the farm store. It works great, is easy to fill, and the chickens accepted it right away. Because it is closed, the water stays clean too. For winter, we put an electric heater right into the bucket. It is thermostatically controlled and made for this purpose. We only had to cut a small hole in the lid for the cord. No more water worries!
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That sounds like what we were shooting for! Did you use the vertical nipples or the horizontal ones?
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The vertical..they are right on the bottom side of the buckei. I have never seen the horizontal, or side mounted ones as you have.
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Interesting. Ive been scratching my head trying to design a similar thing.
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Sounds like it's going to be a good solution. The design seems straightforward, so I'm betting your version will do just fine. I'm sure the chickens will appreciate heated water during the cold days, too.
Heads up, btw... I nominated you for the 7 Day B&W Photo Challenge. Easy project and earns some extra SBD.
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Thanks for your comment and the nomination. I will start working on the challenge and hopefully get one up tomorrow!
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You're welcome for both! Have fun!
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