Chicken Waterers           

No mess, always clean waterers for chickens.  I have done tons of research, probably too much, and I kept seeing that the best waterers for chickens were the kind the chickens couldn’t poop in or stand on. Through my research I found these things called chicken nipple waterers. I got mine from Amazon because I am Prime baby!!! And they seemed to be cheaper. Here is the link: click here. I bought the 25 pack because that seemed like it would be plenty, and it was even after my toddler decided to play with them and lose about 7 of them. I am sure I will find them someday, probably when we redecorate his room. The next thing I did was run to Home Depot and purchase 4 5 gallon buckets with lids and some silicone caulk made for kitchens and bathrooms. Once you have all yours supplies then you need to grab your tools. Tools needed:

Drill

3/8” drill bit

Caulking gun

Okay so step one:

Turn your buckets over. Drill as many holes as you feel like into the bottom of the buckets. Be careful to not created an irregular hole or too big of a hole. You want it to be as tight of fit as possible. Also try to minimize the rough edges of the hole. I chose to do 4 holes in each bucket giving me a total of 16 nipples. 

 

For only 20 chickens I think that will be fine. I didn’t want there to be so many that while one chicken is pecking at the waterer another chicken gets wet from the over flow. I wanted them all to be in use without being crowded.

Step two:

Place the nipple into the hole. Okay that sounds bad, but I can’t help it. Keep it clean people. The screw laces should go into the bucket and the bolt looking side should hang out.

This end should be hanging out the bottom.

This end should be pushed inside of hole. The rubber ring should be flush against the bottom of the bucket.

Step 3:

Seal the holes and nipples.

At first I thought I would secure the nipples into the bucket using nuts (as in nuts and bolts, don’t get cheeky!!!). I quickly abandoned that idea, it sucked and failed miserably.

 The last thing you want is all the water to leak out of the buckets and make a wet mess of your run or coop. So I used the silicone caulk to seal all around each nipple. Be very careful not to get any caulk on the metal pin either on top or bottom. Allow the recommended amount time for the caulk to dry. See the label on your specific caulk.

Step 4:

Test the water retention. Simply hang your bucket or buckets and fill them with water. There shouldn’t be any leaking from the nipples or around them. If there is allow the area to dry and reapply more caulk to the leaking area. If you are clear then check that each nipple produces water when pushed. If all that works it is time to hang your waterers.

 

Step 5:

Hang your waterer. I chose to do 4 buckets, 2 inside the coop and 2 in the run. Place the lids securely on your buckets and hang the buckets from the rafters or ceiling. Make sure the bucket sits enough off the ground for the chickens to get under it, but not so high that they can’t reach it. Also avoid areas that wind could cause the buckets to turn into wrecking balls. Insert visual image of the chicken version of Miley Cirus riding the bucket.

Final step:

Fill your buckets up and make sure your chickens understand how to get water. If these are new to your chickens you may want to leave at least one of your old waterers in, until you are sure that everyone is able and willing to use the new buckets.

 

Supplies/costs:

4 – 5 gallon buckets with lids $4.65/each

25 – chicken watering nipples $5.50 for 25

1 tube of silicone caulk $7.97

Grand total = $32.07

So for under $35 I have chicken waterers that will keep the water clean, reduce the splash of water = a mess, that will eliminate the worry of a chick falling into the water and drowning, and that I won’t have to fill up daily. Win-win in my opinion. I plan to have my chicks arrive in April and I will start them out on these waterers as soon as I can. Hopefully all goes well and I don’t have to come up with something else.