Sunday, July 17, 2011

Backyard Chicken Waterer


There is nothing more annoying than your chickens constantly dumping their water over, or using it as their personal toliet. It seemed no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep their waterer full or clean. Then I found out about chicken nipples. Now I am sure some of you who have huge flocks have known about these for along time. I don't need the whole PVC pipe set up studded with the chicken nipples. I only have 4 chickens!!! So my neighbor came up with this brilliant way to make a simple backyard chicken waterer with stuff you probably have laying around your house. It is cheap and simple. Click here to see why I love my chickens so much.

What you need:
  • 1 chicken nipple
  • 1 empty 2 liter soda bottle
  • 23/64 drill bit and drill
  • 1/1/4 drill bit (or a thumb tack)
What you do:
  • Drill a hole into the center of the lid of the soda bottle
  • Screw in threaded portion of the chicken nipple
  • Poke a small hole or use thin drill bit through the center of the bottom of the soda bottle (this releases pressure allowing water to flow through the chicken nipple.)
  • Fill with water (put a finger over the hole on bottom of bottle).
  • Replace cap that now has chicken nipple attached
  • Hang up for chickens to drink. Must be hung high enough that the chickens have to lift their heads to peck at the bottle.

    Chicken nipple. I added some plumbers tape.
    Drilling hole for chicken nipple.

Finished Product!! I secured mine with small bungie cords.
If you think of a better way comment and let me know!


9 comments:

  1. Marvelous idea. I, too, have been working hard to keep our chicken water clean. We now have the waterer on a large shelf up above the floor of the coop where the girls don't mind going for their drinks and that has been working pretty well.

    After reading about them in your blog, I had a lot of fun asking at my feed store for chicken nipples--after they got through laughing at me they discovered that, although they didn't have any, they did have HOG nipples.

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  2. Hog nipples? That is too funny!! i have never seen chicken nipples for sale at the feed store either. have to buy them online. thanks for stopping by!

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  3. I'm using old fridge drawers for water for my chickens. They don't get in them, can't poop in them and can't tip them. I had a ceramic antique one, but my hubby dropped it. May look into this. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Sounds like a great idea! I don't have chickens yet (not allowed in my town) but I hope to someday. I'll have to remember this. Thanks!

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  5. Thanks for posting a great tutorial! I just put mine in the coop today, thanks to you! Do you recommend taking out their old waterer now and force them to figure out how to use this one or leave them both in for a while?

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  6. Erin, thank you so much for the nice comment! You should leave their other water in until you make sure everyone knows how to use it. Also you need to make sure it is at a height everyone can reach. You could always take their old water out for a couple hours and see how they do. i just wouldn't want to chance them not having water in the heat. hope this helps!

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  7. Thank you so much. This was a fantastic idea. I found this site through Pinterest. I didn't have a drill available so I used scissors to round out the nipple hole and a nail to put a small hole in the top of the bottle for ventilation :)

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Thanks so much for your encouraging words!