Building a DIY Chicken Waterer

The chickens are going to be four weeks old so they'll be heading out to the chicken coop very soon. That means it's time to complete all the punchlist items I've been putting off on the coop...like a waterer so the chickens have plenty to drink.

I'm using a 75 gallon barrel similar to the ones I'm using for my rain catchment system. In the video I show you how I connect all the fittings to the barrel to allow the water to run from the barrel to the PVC pipe that's outfitted with 6 horizontal nipples.

I chose horizontal nipples over vertical nipples because I heard the vertical ones can leak if they get clogged. The horizontal nipples work on the same principle of having the chicken press on a metal toggle, but being horizontal they're less prone to leaking.

To make the waterer, I attached a galvanized 3/4" floor flange to the bottom of the barrel, sealing it with 100% silicone caulk. It was kept in place with 4 stainless steel screws to prevent rusting.

A 3/4" nipple was the screwed into the flange and a shutoff valve was attached to the nipple. The threaded ends of the nipple were covered in teflon tape to prevent leaks. A second nipple was then attach to the shutoff valve -- which was installed to allow me to work on the system without having 75 gallons of water come rushing down on me -- and then a 4 ft washer machine hose was screwed onto the nipple.

Several PVC connectors were then attached to a 4 ft long piece of 1-1/4" PVC pipe (that was the size I happened to have on hand). A nipple was attached at one end to screw the washer machine hose onto and a cap was placed at the other.

A series of 3/8" holes were drilled into the PVC pipe and the wwatering nipples were force threaded into the pipe. The whole assembly was then mounted on the side of the chicken run at a height the chickens should find easy to use.

I then partially filled the rain barrel with water to test it out and make sure there were no leaks. Now all I need to do is introduce the chickens into the coop!

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Видео Building a DIY Chicken Waterer канала RuggedHomestead