To benefit from the chickens, they need to create a comfortable living environment and provide them with proper nutrition. One of the most important elements of the content is the drinking regime of birds. Drinkers can be purchased or made from scrap materials. To make a drinking system for chickens with your own hands, it is necessary to consider the features of various models, their comfort in terms of birds and ease of maintenance, adding water or vitamins, as well as cleaning from contamination.
Drinker Requirements for Chickens
A good drinker should:
- be durable and resilient;
- harmless to chickens;
- easy to fill;
- do not enter into chemical reactions with the liquid;
- easy to wash and disinfect;
- keep the water clean and drinkable;
- Do not let the water in it freeze in winter.
Did you know? Depriving a chicken of drink for 48 hours reduces its egg production in 6 days to 4%. A sign of a lack of fluid in the body is creasing of the comb, loss of appetite.
Making drinking bowls for chickens with their own hands
The main types of drinkers in chicken coops:
- The "lazy" option is any household capacity;
- vacuum;
- nipple;
- from polypropylene pipe.
Familiarize yourself with the process of making a bottle for chickens.
To create a drinking system, you will need:
- screwdriver or drill;
- roulette;
- Consumables.
Nippelny drinking bowl
Nipple drinker supplies fluid only at the moment of contact with the bird. This is convenient because the water does not stagnate, it can not splash or stain.
Such a system consists of:
- water tank;
- connecting hose;
- pipes with nipples;
- drift eliminators.
- For work, a plastic or polypropylene tank is taken into which water will be poured. The main requirement for this capacity - it must be durable.
- A hose is screwed into the tank through which water will be supplied.
- The polypropylene pipe is marked with labels every 30 cm.
- Drilled holes under the nipple.
- Tap the thread is cut, after which you need to twist the nipple (series 1800).
- A plug is installed at one end of the pipe, and a hose is connected to the other end.
- All joints are isolated so that the system does not leak.
- A drop catcher is put on the pipe to each nipple.
- The tank is mounted on the wall of the chicken coop, and the drinking tube is so that it is convenient for the chickens to drink, that is, not higher than the back of the chicken.
Did you know? Birds learn to drink from the nipple as well as find food. Curious about the shiny nipple, the hen strikes it with its beak and gets a drink. Calling others to the water, she continues to drink, and this demonstrates the principle of the system.
Video: Nipple Drinker Manufacturing
Vacuum Trough
A vacuum drinker is a water tank placed on a pallet. For the manufacture of such a model will require:
- plastic bottle or other container;
- pallet;
- small legs under the bottle.
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Creating a drinking trough:
- The bottle is filled with water.
- Put small legs on the neck.
- Cover with a tray.
- Turn over.
How to make a vacuum drinker: video
Plastic Trough
For the manufacture of such a model, you will need a polypropylene pipe, plugs on the ends of the pipe and clamps for mounting it on the wall.
Work algorithm:
- In the pipe on one side are cut rectangular holes.
- At the ends of the pipe wear plugs.
- Attach the pipe at a height of 20 cm from the floor to the wall with clamps.
- Pour water.
Important! According to the All-Russian Poultry Research Institute, cold water is not absorbed by the bird, but is in its intestines until it reaches body temperature. Therefore, water to birds, and especially chicks, should be given heated. The optimal temperature for broiler chickens should be within + 18-22 °WITH.
Simple drinking bucket
For the work will need a plastic bucket and nipples.
Feeders are an equally important element of animal livelihood, learn how to make feeders for chickens, wild birds, rabbits, piglets.
The manufacture includes the following steps:
- At the bottom of the bucket, drill holes around the hole for the nipples (1800 series).
- The thread is cut in the holes.
- Nipples are screwed.
- The bucket is fixed with a nylon rope or other attachment to the ceiling.
- Water is collected.
Drinking bowl for winter with heating cable
Since a warm liquid is better absorbed by the avian organism, especially in winter, it would be very desirable to provide heating for the drinker. Chilled water not only causes disease, but also just freezes, disturbing the body’s water balance.
For the manufacture of heated models will need:
- already finished drinking bowl;
- heating system;
- a pipe with a larger diameter than a nipple bowl;
- polyethylene foam or other heat insulator.
Creating a warming drinker:
- The heating cable is inserted into the system with nipple drinkers.
- In order to avoid heat loss, the pipe is placed in thermal insulation, for example, polyethylene foam.
- In the pipe of a larger diameter or corrugated sleeve drill holes for the output nipples.
- Nippelny drinking bowl in thermal insulation is packed into a corrugated sleeve.
- In order not to freeze the tank, it is also packed in insulation, for example, mineral wool or sandwich panels.
- The heating cable is connected to the mains.
Important! Use of warm water (+ 10-15 °C for adult chickens) accelerates the absorption of nutrients in winter. And in hot weather, cool water helps the bird to maintain optimal body temperature.
How to make a winter nipple drinker: video
How to make an automatic water supply to the drinkers
Water is automatically supplied to birds in both nipple and vacuum cups. To ensure automatic water inlet, it must be connected to the plumbing system. But this model has more disadvantages than advantages:
- Sooner or later, any water supply pipe is polluted by organic deposits, particles of heavy metals, etc .; the drinking trough connected to the water supply cannot be washed or sanitized;
- if such a system is used by an infected bird, you will carry the infection into the water supply network of the house.
Therefore, we do not recommend that you install an automatic water supply to the drinkers for your birds.
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Where to place the drinker
It is necessary to place the water bottle within the reach of the bird, i.e. not higher than 30 cm from the floor level. Pipe structures are attached to the walls, the rest are placed so that the bird could not turn them over.
Therefore:
- nipple drinking bowl or made of polypropylene pipe is attached to the wall with hose clamps;
- vacuum is better placed on the 20-30-centimeter height - it will save it from turning over, reduce the amount of dirt falling into it;
- A nipple drinker from a bucket is fastened to a hook on the ceiling of a chicken coop.
Learn how to make a chicken coop, ventilation, heating, lighting in it, aviary for chickens.
How to teach chickens to use the drinker
Chickens are rather curious birds, and if a droplet hangs from the nipple, then someone will surely touch it with its beak and find out that you can drink from this thing, and also show how it works, to your relatives.
If this understanding does not come, you can make one nipple a little leaking, it will attract the attention of chickens, and they will quickly learn the rules of interaction with the device. You can draw water in the drip catcher in order to attract the attention of birds to the nipples.
As you can see, the creation of various wines according to the degree of complexity and principle of operation is possible for everyone. The process takes some time and requires little expense, but ultimately provides the birds with a better water supply system.