People breed chickens from time immemorial. For some, this is a business, for others, it is a pleasure activity, for others, the desire to provide only themselves and their families with dietary meat and eggs.
But to achieve the result, it is necessary, as elsewhere, to work hard. If you or your family live in a rural area or you have a summer cottage, then much can be done personally for your own pleasure and to save money.
Drinking bowl is an indispensable and necessary item in the cultivation of any poultry. It is not necessary to buy. All or part of it is made personally from improvised means.
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General requirements for home conditions
There are general requirements for them that need to be considered if you intend to make them yourself:
- she must be easy to use. The water tank should be easily filled, if necessary by hand or through a plumbing system. You should also immediately think about free access to the bottom of the tank. For example, if you take a barrel of 200 liters with a neck under a cork of 10 cm as a tank, it will be easy to fill it, but it is impossible to wash or clean it from the inside;
- safety requirement. Includes use for making quality material. If the container and pipes are metal, they are taken from stainless steel. If you choose plastic, PVC, other plastics - its substances can not be toxic and harmful to poultry. The material should not react with the preparations, soluble in water;
- she is should not be contaminated long term.In it, the bird should not bathe, otherwise clog it. For this, open areas of water are minimized by area;
- they make resilient tilting or well fixed (depending on the construction) and durable (material, construction);
- their design is obliged to perform its function in the optimal way - from it the bird must drink unhindered, no problem.
Homemade Nipple Drinker
If your goal is to construct a nipple drip drinker, this requires the following:
- nipple;
- drift eliminator;
- trumpet (water flows through it) with a plug and a vent;
- capacity for water (if it is taken not from the water supply system with a regulator (if it comes under pressure).
If we take directly from the plumbing system, you can not put the capacity. But preferably detached. Therefore, for example, consider the second version of the design. To the tank at a distance of 5-10 cm from the bottom we attach PVC pipe of the desired length.
If one is not enough, through the connectors we extend it from several. In the pipe at an equal distance we drill holes for the nipple and separately - for the droplet separator.
One end compresses the pipe, the other has the shape of a spoon, in which water from the nipple accumulates while the bird is drinking. Mist eliminator can be bought or made by yourself from a plastic bottle.
You can do it yourself and in another way.
You need to take any capacity with a capacity of 10-30 liters and nipples - 4 or 5 (depending on the diameter of the bottom). First we drill holes for the nipple.
Then simply insert nipples into them. We suspend the container or place it on a tripod so that the bird can reach the nipple without problems. The design is ready.
There are nipples that work at 360 degrees, there is - at 180 (up and down).
The first is recommended for chickens, the second - for adult birds.
Vacuum version of their own hands
This design is used mainly for chickens. It supplies water by means of a vacuum, which constantly flows from the tank when it is needed, that is, until the poultry drinks it. Then the container is filled again.
We make from 5 liter plastic bottles
Vacuum-type construction is easy to make yourself. You do not need to buy anything extra, as in the version described above.
Option number 1
For this we need: One plastic bottle for 2.5 liters and one for 5 liters and 2 screws.
- At first we cut off 5 liter bottle as shown. We only need the bottom ¼ part with a lid.
Drinking trough - From a 2.5 liter bottle unscrew the cap and attach it with screws inside the cover of 5-liter. In 2.5 l. bottle we pierce the hole with a diameter of 6-7 mm.
Vacuum Drinking Device - Screwing 5-liter cap with attached cover from 2.5 liter.
- Top down 2.5 l. Capacity in a trimmed 5-liter and screw on the lid. Subsequently, to pour water in 2.5 liters. the bottle is unscrewed again from the cap attached to the large 5-liter cap. It pours out of the hole and fills the space of the cut bottle to the level where the hole is located.
- This design for comfort and rigidity. fasten on any support, for example, on a wall. From above, a loop of wire holds a 2.5 liter bottle, and from the bottom, 2 rods screwed into the wall.
Fastening to the base
Option number 2
Drinking from a 10-liter plastic bottle can be made under a simplified scheme. It is also suitable for the 5-liter.
First, we make a 6-7 mm hole in a 10-liter bottle at a distance of about 5 cm from the bottom. But the distance will directly depend on the vessel in which you put the bottle. If it is deep, then the hole is made higher.
Next, we fill it with water in a pot. It will run out of the bottle as soon as its level reaches the hole. You can fill the bottle in place by unscrewing the cap on top. This is also a type of vacuum supply system.
Feeding trough for chickens
From a sewer plastic pipe with a diameter of from ten to fifteen centimeters make an open drinker. For this, several rectangular-shaped holes of 25-35 centimeters are cut out in the pipe. At the same time make the first and last hole at a distance of 10-20 cm from its edge.
The distance between the holes must also be done 10-20 centimeters. They cut out grinder or other tools. The edges are trimmed to avoid possible scratches and cuts.
On the edges of the pipe are installed tees with plugs. When water needs to be poured, the inlet plug is removed, and the drain plug is removed. You can connect this type of construction to the existing water supply network, filling it with water if necessary, then block it with a tap. This will allow to fill it without effort.
In the chicken coop for cocks and layers, it is fastened with hose clips of the same diameter as the pipe. They are fixed in such a way that the pipe is raised 15-20 centimeters from the floor (ground). Install it under a slight slope (1-2 degrees) to flush the pipe, and the contents drained by gravity.
The water in this design is quickly polluted and loses freshness, the pipe is often washed. To do this, on the tee from the other end of the pipe they install not a cap, but a drain valve. It's easier to work with the drain.
Chick droplet model
Drinker for chickens preferably set or vacuum type or nipple. If you choose the first option, make sure that the chickens are not choked in a vessel, into which water will flow from the bottle, that is, so that the sides of the vessel are not high.
If their livestock is small, buy a vessel for a homemade vacuum drinker (in the form of a saucer and turn the glass jar on it).
Chickens in the first days of life, defenseless. If they are grown separately from the hen, people take care of their safety. With age, chickens become more active. This means that the drinker needs to be well fixedto avoid the danger of its overturning and injury to young. In addition, because of the accidentally spilled water, the litter becomes wet, which leads to the disease of the bird.
It is not recommended to choose for them the option of drinking bowls from PVC pipes for the same reasons.
You can use a constructive option nipple drinkers. Then it is important to secure it at the level of the chicks head.
Compare the types of water dispensers for birds
Nipple: it is convenient in use, safe, pure water keeps the long period, does not overturn. More suitable for adult birds. The central tube can be attached as to a large container, acting as a reservoir.
Connect also to the existing plumbing. Among the shortcomings, it is possible to note its high cost, since almost all components of this type of structure will have to be bought.
Vacuum: comfortable, water pollutes more than nipple, provided it is securely fixed, it is safe, does not require money to make, it is easy to do it yourself. More suitable for chickens.
Disadvantages: if it is not enough to fix it, there is a possibility of its throwing, you must constantly pour water into the container. If its volume is small, it should be done often.
Drinker from the pipe: comfortable, more used for adult livestock, durable, resistant to tilting, provided it is well fixed, it can be drunk with a large number of heads, can be connected either to a tank or to a water supply system.
Disadvantage: not suitable for chickens, the water in it is quickly polluted.
Choose what type of drinker do your own hands better, based on the availability of scrap materials and financial opportunities.