Many owners of private houses and personal subsidiary plots keep poultry: chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys. This is a profitable business, poultry farmers provide not only their families with ecological meat and eggs, but also sell the surplus, thereby increasing their income. At the same time, some owners forget an important rule - in order for the chickens to give as many eggs as possible, it is imperative to provide them with comfortable conditions. Otherwise, it will be difficult to get a good return from the bird, and even in poor conditions, the living creatures risk dying altogether. First of all, hens need clean water. Each hen usually requires half a liter per day.

The importance of drinking for chickens

Experienced poultry farmers say that this rate is only approximate and depends on a number of reasons (conditions of detention, age of individuals, location of chickens, amount of feed eaten by a bird). Also, the amount of liquid varies depending on the season. In summer, of course, hens need more moisture, and in winter - less.

Important!Due to the lack of water in the drinkers, the chickens will start to hurt, and some may even die.

Drinking bowls for chickens themselves must also meet the necessary requirements:

  • Comfortable. The bird should have free access to the devices at any time of the day. Water should be filled there automatically or manually.
  • Resistant. This is necessary so that during a fight or any other activity, the chickens cannot move or overturn the drinkers.
  • Drinking material must be strong. It is also necessary to make such devices from safe material that will not break and harm the bird. Most often, they are mounted from plastic, but it is recommended to process all the edges without fail so that the chickens do not receive any injuries.
  • The water must be clean. For this, it is better to use closed containers. Such structures will protect the liquid from dust, sand and poultry waste.
  • During the cold season, drinkers must be frost-proof. Water can be heated using safe aquarium heaters. Some poultry farmers also use homemade ones.

Drinking bowl for chickens do it yourself

Drinking bowl for chickens do it yourself

Water containers for the chicken coop can be either purchased in the store (original drinkers) or made yourself. A do-it-yourself drinking bowl for chickens is quite simple. Initially, you need to decide on the type. There are several of them - nipple, vacuum, cup, siphon, drip. They can be created from plastic bottles or PVC pipes. In fact, there are more ideas, many craftsmen make other types of drinkers for broilers with their own hands.

Nipple drinker

It is considered the most progressive way of drinking animals. This will require a hole in the bottom of the bucket or in the lid of any plastic bottle. Then a nipple is screwed into the hole, the structure is installed in the right place and filled with water.

Nipple drinker

Also, such a device can be made from PVC pipes. To do this, you need plastic pipes, pipe plugs, a clamp (polypropylene), nipples, a drill, a waterproofing tape and a drill. On the surface of the plastic pipe, you need to make marks and drill holes every 30 cm. Screw the nipples into them, which must be wrapped with waterproofing tape.Then one end of the pipe is connected to the water supply, and a plug is inserted into the second and tightened with ties. Experts recommend installing trays or bowls under each nipple. This will avoid unnecessary water spillage. In addition, the bird will have additional drinking containers.

Drinking bowl for chickens from a plastic bottle

Such a simple container is well suited for those who have a very small population of chickens. Its main plus is efficiency, and a minus is the lack of automatic water supply. A five-liter or 25-liter bottle (plastic) is suitable for its manufacture. Several holes are made in the container (the length of the holes is 3-4 cm, the width is 1.5 cm). The homemade construction is placed in another container - a cup or basin filled with water. As a result, when the liquid is drunk, the required amount of water will flow from the bottle through the holes into the container. In this case, the bottle cap must be tightly closed.

Important! It is advisable that the drinker is 20 cm above the floor level. This measure will save water from pollution.

Vacuum drinker

It looks like an inverted container of water, which is dipped into a special bowl for drinking. As a result, the water is kept in the container due to pressure and gradually enters the bowl, refilling it from time to time. To make it, you will need a regular plastic bottle, the volume of which can be 5 or 10 liters.

Note! The plastic bottle should have a narrow neck.

You will also need a water bowl or basin to make a vacuum drinker by hand. The height of such a vessel should be no more than 10 cm for adults and no more than 3 cm for young chickens. In addition, you will need a screwdriver, fasteners, self-tapping screws. Any plastic bottle can be used directly as the tank itself. However, it is important to note that the diameter of the neck of such a container should be less than the diameter of the bowl. With the help of self-tapping screws, fasteners for the tank are screwed to the wall of the chicken coop, clean water is poured into the tank, and a bowl is placed in the opening of the tank.

Note! The height of the bowl can be changed depending on the age of the hens or chickens. It's easy to do: just place a piece of board or plywood under the bowl.

Cup drinker

The automatic drinker for chickens works according to the following principle. During the emptying of the container, the spring is expanded. After that, a special gasket leaves the hole between the junction of the narrow and wide pipes and, as a result, a new portion of life-giving moisture from the tank located on top enters the bowl. When the required amount of liquid fills the bowl again, the spring compresses, and the gasket again closes the water access.

You can also make a drinking bowl at home. To do this, you need a plastic cup (volume 200-250 ml), a plastic tank, several pipe sections, plugs for them, a spring (5 cm in height and 20 mm in diameter), a silicone gasket. You also need to prepare a drill, a steel rod, pipe fittings, self-tapping screws and a few plywood gaskets.

Cup drinker

Step-by-step instructions on how to make a drinker:

  1. Self-tapping screws are often used to screw fasteners for pipes.
  2. Then a 25-centimeter 50 mm pipe section is taken and a plug is installed at its end.
  3. A 20 mm hole is made in the center of the plug with a drill. In this case, the burrs of the plug must be directed to the inside of the pipe.
  4. Further, already in the pipe itself, several holes are cut, which are needed to fix the axis of the cup.
  5. A piece of pipe with a plug is fixed to the floor of the barn, while the plug is directed upward.
  6. A spring is placed inside the pipe, and a gasket is installed on the cup mount (it is better to use waterproof glue).
  7. After that, the cup itself is installed on a steel rod, and a 20 mm pipe is directed to the top of the plug. This narrow pipe must later be connected to the water supply tank.
  8. Water from the tank is poured into the finished system.

Siphon drinker

In other words, it is also called drip. Its main disadvantage is that the owner of the chicken coop will have to constantly add water, but it is easy to install.Required materials: a flexible pipe with a faucet (a sewer pipe is suitable), a water tank or canister, a drinking container (bowl, basin), fasteners for the tank and pipe, a drill. With the help of the latter, a hole is made in the wall of the shed 50 cm above the floor level. A flexible pipe is pushed into the hole. Then, outside the hen house, a tank is attached so that its bottom is 15 cm above the tube opening. Next, the outer end of the pipe with a shutter is attached to the bottom of the tank, and a container for collecting water is installed near the wall inside the shed under the pipe. Liquid is poured into the tank, which from time to time will flow into a bowl or basin.

Siphon drinker

Tips and tricks from experienced poultry farmers

In winter, chick breeders are faced with cold water. Such life-giving moisture is dangerous for birds: chickens can first catch a cold, and then die altogether. To avoid such troubles, experienced poultry farmers recommend heating devices. You can make it yourself or buy special electric heating tanks in the store. Wooden boxes are installed manually under the tank, inside which ordinary bulbs are inserted. They are connected to electricity. Such bulbs will heat the tank so that extremely warm water is supplied to the chicken coop, which is required for chickens.

There is another way to heat water. An electric tank can be installed in the shed, which independently heats the water. This method is very effective, but expensive. It works in automatic mode. This plus pleases poultry breeders, since as a result, much less time and effort is needed to care for layers.

But experienced poultry farmers are advised to pay special attention to the selection and assembly of an automatic hand drinker. After all, the productivity of the bird depends on the purity of life-giving moisture. All of the above devices, with proper operation, will protect water from pollution, and it will enter the container gradually. Moreover, these elementary structures can be easily made by hand, thereby saving money.