Chicken Coop Vacation Watering System
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- Опубліковано 17 жов 2024
- Ok, so you have your own backyard chickens and are enjoying some fresh eggs daily. But what do you do when you want to leave for a vacation? How can you keep them fed and with fresh water? These are some common questions that I get when discussing the suburban chicken coop.
The system I am using here starts with the Poultry Nipples or Chicken Nipples I used in the original chicken watering system. If you haven't seen the video or read the article check it out here - • Automatic Chicken Wate... .
We were planning a 5-6 day vacation and our current watering system (the temporary smaller one in the chicken tractor) would not hold enough water for that amount of time. Many times people have suggested that I hook a hose up to this watering system to keep it supplied with water at all times. The only issue with that is that when there is any water pressure on the chicken nipples they tend to drip and also spray out small bursts of water when the chickens peck at them. For that reason I do not recommend this as a long terms solution but for our 5-6 day vacation this will work out perfectly.
I took a trip up to Ace Hardware to grab a few fittings to connect a garden hose up to our 2" PVC pipe system. I started with a cleanup adapter so that I could screw on and off this hose attachment, 2" PVC threaded adapter, reducing bushing to 3/4" or 1/2" and the hardest part to find - a pipe thread to hose thread adapter.
Assembly only took a few minutes and I was ready to hook up the hose and see what the result would be. I just turned the hose on slightly to reduce the amount of water pressure as much as possible. As I suspected the poultry nipples did drip slowly and constantly. I added some river rock under the watering system to prevent a mud puddle (which the chickens love to drink from for some reason). And watched it for a day before we left. It worked perfectly! Chickens had a constant supply of fresh water and the river rocks allowed the dripping system to drain and not create any mess.
This is a perfect way to keep your chickens or other small animals with a fresh supply of water for a short period of time. I have plans to incorporate a float supply system when I redesign the main watering contraption so stay tuned for more on that later.
You can purchase the Chicken Nipples here - amzn.to/2DK0cLA
Pipe thread-Hose thread adapter - amzn.to/1KHNRnw
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That beats taking the chickens on vacation with you. Great idea,
dan Hamakua lol, that is for sure!
Great idea. Have you considered adding a timer to your hose? I have them on my garden bed so I can control how often my garden is getting watered. You could use the same timer to feed your watering system for your chickens so you won't have to worry about constant pressure on the pipe. I have chickens myself and I'm thinking of doing that as well.
great idea, I would add on more component. A back flow preventer should be added to the spigot on the house end of your house. They just screw on to the spigot are about $10 at Lowe's and will make sure that tainted water can never gets back into the homes drinking water.
I’m a plumber and that was going to be my suggestion. Cross contamination and back siphoning can cause your domestic water in the house to be a serious health issue.
I use a float valve for a toilet which is mounted inside of a bucket. The 5 gallon bucket is mounted up high inside the run so it's still remains gravity fed after the bucket fills from the house water which is "hard piped" in.. so NO failure prone garden hoses used here! I've never once had a problem with it in the past 3 years. It's zero maintenance if you keep the lid tight on it. I also keep a spare valve incase i have any future issues . It's also a good idea to install an overflow pipe on the top side of the bucket that exits outside of the coop incase the valve malfunctions and continues to fill the bucket. This hasn't happened to me , but i had that idea come about when i had my gutters plumbed into the bucket. I don't suggest plumbing your rainwater into this type of system. Also, low flow "inline" gardening type pressure regulators will still build up pressure over time and can get clogged easily. The best one are the type used on drinking fountains but can be very expensive. Just make sure your bucket is mounted solid on a platform. You don't want it hanging from the metal handle which could break over time and fall .. if you know what i mean. You also don't want it swaying in the wind which will cause it to continuously allow the water level to change which results in the bucket filling. Also be sure to insulate all your pipes and the bucket if you live in a freeze prone area :) Cheers🐣🐥🐤🐔
A "little" late but a pressure regulator used for drip/sprinkler system is about $5 then add a backflow regulator would solve your water pressure problem.
May you and your family be blessed!
how do you remove that adapter now in the future if you dont need it? it wont unscrew because it will bump into the cage wire
Good stuff bro and awesome scripture at the end:) God is good to us for sure!
+Farm Thanks! We have been blessed that is for sure.
you can get a pressure regulator in the garden watering part of most Home improvement stores keeps down to 25 psi. that may help.
Two week vacation here...I use a covered plastic bucket as a reservoir (no pressure) and fill the bucket from a timer valve from Lowes connected to the faucet. You can place a "Y" at the output of the timer valve so you can further regulate the amount of water for the time selected to more pens.
I am watering 4 chicken pens of varying size with one timer set at 2 minutes once a day. This one is a programmable timer, so between the valve and the program I can set the water for each pen. 1) small pen with only three chickens. 2) chicken tractor with 13 chickens. 3) permanent pen with 6 chickens. 4) quarantine pen with two chickens currently in it.
The reservoir (buckets) are filled with 1/4" crazy pipe attached to a 1/2" feeder from the timer. The one thing I don't like about this setup is that the timer runs on a 9v battery. That's also handy, but I'm not so worried about overfilling the water as I am losing water because of a dead battery while I'm not there. The fix was to have my sister-in-law check on them regularly...but it was much easier to ask her because of the auto-feeding and auto-watering devices (the auto feeder idea came from you, so thank you SSLFamilyDad!
dantco That sounds like an excellent system, especially with so many chickens and different coops. I love having the feeder setup also, haveing to just fill it once a week is great!
I haven’t read all the comments so maybe it’s been brought up already but have you thought about putting a pressure regulator on the hose. One like I have on my drip irrigation. I think it only goes up max to 30psi.
This works for me. I have a bucket in my chicken yard. I ran a garden hose from the spigot outside to the chicken coop. It is on a water timer and the timer turns the water on every day at 2:00 in the afternoon and fills up the bucket. I clean the bucket every week and have been doing this for years and it works even if I am not at home. Any water that runs out of the bucket I find my girls playing in it.
You could rig up a toilet tank valve using a float in the vertical portion of your stand pipe which would rise on the water column and shut off the valve. Or you could use a water pressure regulator on the hose and dial the pressure down until it has just barely more than enough head pressure to climb the hose height you've established... that would allow it to spill over into the system as you have it right now.
I have been thinking about using a float from a toilet or evaporative cooler one waterers for many critters.
Yup, that's exactly what i used .. a float valve for a toilet which is mounted inside of a bucket. The 5 gallon bucket is mounted up high inside the run so it's still gravity fed after the bucket fills from the house water. I've never once had a problem with it in the past 3 years. It's zero maintenance if you keep the lid tight on it. I also keep a spare valve incase i have any future issues . It's also a good idea to install an overflow pipe that exits outside of the coop incase the valve malfunctions and continues to fill the bucket. This hasn't happened to me , but i that idea came about when i had my gutters plumbed into the bucket. I don't suggest plumbing your rainwater into this type of system.
MOst of those nozzles work at .5 psi. If you hook up a hose to it with a pressure regulator it should work fine. any more than recommended psi and the birds cant push on the nozzle to get the water.
You could use a pressure regulator to drop the pressure and stop most of the leaks. Thx for the video's. I will be using a lot of your ideas on my chicken coop that I'm building this winter.
+Chris Tate That is a great idea. I have found a couple low pressure regulators I might try out.
so when u are on vacation what do u do with the chicks? do u leave the coop open ? or close it till u come back?
I see someone else thought of the toilet tank float idea,,,,,,mine is using the same float,,,,but in a 5 gal bucket hook it up as you would in a toilet,,,,,but the water gravity feeds out,,,when the level gets down,,,the float opens the valve to fill to level then there`s no pressure on your system
You can get pressure reducers to hook at the faucet that might help
i thought having a longer PVC pipe extend the days for watering was a good idea, but this system is better instead? Well done. Respectfully, Margo
+Margo Fr I am thinking that this is a good solution if you add the float valve or pressure regulator as you said in your other comment. Long term this will just make a mess but it worked perfectly while we were gone. And to be honest I haven't disconnected it yet since I like not having to fill it!
Add a pressure regulator, in the sprinkler aisle it drops the pressure to like 15lbs
Awesome, thanks! Love the scripture at the end too. Hope you all have a sweet vacation!
Summer Prescott Thanks!
Why not just collect rain water and let gravity and atmospheric pressure keep the system filled?
Float Valve $6 with shipping. Couple of pvc fittings $2.00 and you hook it up to your water line. Never have to worry about water level.
Pics?
Seems like you might have a Michigan connection. Cool 👌🏼
Why not put a water timer on once a day
+steward that would work also, just didn't want to spend the money on a timer when I put this together
You could put it on a hose timer too... have it run 15 minutes a day
I love 'Fgresh' eggs too!
Isn't that pvc cement toxic to them?
a float valve w/improve this and solve the "muddy" mess, don't you think? Small upgrade.
+Margo Fr Yes, I mentioned that int he video also:) Will be adding that to the larger permanant system in the back, video coming soon!
Cool, ALSO,thanks for your vid on ROUTERS that was so helpful to me. I wanted to expand my system to a 2nd & 3rd area.Your tut was excellent. Keep sharing. God's Blessings on you and fam. Respectfully, Margo
This was GREAT! Thanks for sharing.
nice idea. thanks.
Couldn't you just add a rain barrel on and keep that filled.
I think it probably wouldn't have dripped if the PVC had been primed before applying the cement.
it was primed
Why not just put a 5 gallon bucket (or two) hanging down with a small piece of hose. If 1 gallon last a day, the additional 10 gallons.. well.. 10 days.
+David Corbett That is a great way to go also, problem with that is you have to buy bulkhead adapters for the buckets or make your own which can be more expensive. Still a good idea though and something I might integrate into the more permanent system this fall.
Barely open the valve ajust volume and not pressure .
Joe Ciciliot Great point, I suppose I should have clarified for those interested in the specifics:) Either way, even with the reduced volume the pressure still builds up to the same amount probably as the chickens do not keep up with drinking enough water as even the lowest flow from the hose.
👍
might want to try and integrate an auto valve assembly when you make the horizontal turn at the top. something like this.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0077RAP1I/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687642&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001VEOYBA&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=179V214NFWANBQE7AHZJ
that way pressure would never build.
tecook10 That is exactly the float valve I was talking about adding at the end of the video. I plan to use one of those when I redesign the main system thanks!
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