When we were thinking about getting chickens one of our concerns was how difficult it would be to care for them. I’ve got friends who completely “baby” their chickens (e.g. chicken diapers, baths, cleaning their watering dishes daily with bleach, etc.). I’ve also got friends who barely even deal with their chickens other than to make sure they’ve got some food and some water (no matter how dirty). I wanted to find a good balance between these two extremes, between fanatical and neglect.
One of the big “chicken care” questions was regarding food and water. I wanted to automate this process as much as possible.
WATER:
I looked into quite a few different solutions for getting water for my girls. One of those was to setup a nipple watering system. The pro’s of this system were:
1) They wasted less water.
2) They took up less floor space.
3) They didn’t fill up with dirt, feathers, leaves, shavings, etc.
The biggest cons of this system were going to be setting it up and training my girls how to use it. After buying a few of these nipples and testing them I decided I’d try something else.
I saw some automatic poultry watering systems at the feed store but they were pretty expensive. I found something at Wal-Mart that works just as well and have been VERY happy with it. It is a “Never Dry Auto-Wata” system for pets / dogs. It was only $12.78.
FOOD:
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I saw a lot of different feeding systems and couldn’t decide what to do. I had a few extra mason jar feeders and thought I’d attempt a modification to one of them. If it didn’t work then I’d go out and buy something. I took the mason jar feeding attachment and a small plastic peanut butter jar that was the same size as a mason jar. I cut the bottom off of the jar and attached a bigger peanut butter jar to the smaller one. I cut out the bottom of that one and took a long piece of A/C conduit and funneled the end a little to fit into the larger peanut butter jar. I then cut out the bottom of a big plastic container and attached it to the top of the conduit. Finally I cut some holes into the conduit and plastic container and threaded through some wire. This wire would support the majority of the weight of the feeder and take pressure off of the jars. I really like this feeder because it was cheap, takes up very little floor space, is easy to refill, holds a lot of feed, and oh yeah… it was cheap! I haven’t kept excellent track, but it seems that I only need to refill this feeder about 1-2 times a month. To the right is the finished product. It isn’t pretty, but is works GREAT!!! Another idea I had was to add a tin pie plate nailed to a piece of wood that would catch the food as it is “billed out” by the girls. This keeps a substantial amount of food off the ground and from being wasted. The wood and the nails also help keep the feeder in place and from falling off of the cement block it is resting on. Below is a closer look
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Additional Notes:
- My chickens spend most of their day free ranging in a large section of the back yard.
- The automated water system is outside of the coop / run.
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I’ve got the feeder in the chicken run with a gallon waterer. I need to refill this waterer about every two weeks.
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I feed my chickens old wheat from food storage and day old bread I get for free from the local supermarket. I also give them piles of worms and bugs from my compost bin. I haven’t noticed any decrease in egg size, frequency, or quality, but I have noticed a HUGE drop in the amount of feed I have to supply. This is wonderful since chicken feed in the city is about $14 for a 50 lb. bag.
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I decided to do a test and didn’t give my girls any bread, wheat, worms and they weren’t let out of the run as much. They went through the whole feeder full of layer pellets in about a week!
UPDATE 9/15/07
I finally upgraded my “temporary” feeder so something a lot bigger and hopefully a bit nicer looking. You can read all the details here: HomeMade Chicken Feeder
Please visit my site http://www.backyardchickens.com/ for a ton of great info on raising chickens.
Also, register with our 5,000 member community of chicken addicts: www.backyardchickens.com/forum/
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October 23rd, 2007 at 7:19 am
wow, i absolutely love the waterer idea. I have a “regular” old chicken waterer, made of galvanized steel. it is starting to wear out (leak) and i have been seeking a super solution. This may just be the ticket. I live where it freezes (alot) in michigan, so i’ll need to address that issue for sure. This will be the 1st winter for the birds.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:19 am
excitedVulcan, thanks for the comment. A few notes:
1) The chickens sometimes jump up on the waterer and the plastic started to break where the top screws hold it to the wood. I ended up putting a block under the waterer to support it.
2) I’ve seen some people use a small 40 watt light bulb in a tin can underneath their waterers to provide just enough heat to keep the water from freezing.
November 3rd, 2007 at 3:43 pm
I picked up a six foot section of 12″ square (in cross section) ductwork from a salvaged heating system. I intend to use this as the vertical portion of the feeder, using this concept. Feed will go in from the attic loft (with a cover to keep out mice and a hardware cloth screen to prevent accidental feed back loss down the chute). How does the feed get to the loft you may ask? I used an old garage door opener and a pulley from a neighbor’s tractor (both free) to winch it up to the loft door. Total cost for lift: cable and hardware ~ $15. Ductwork: free
November 4th, 2007 at 8:52 am
j hodge4ns, that sounds fantastic! I’d love to see pictures!
I’ve since upgraded my feeder to something a bit nicer / bigger. See it here:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=16717
November 5th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Any ideas on how to keep the water from freezing? I don’t have electric in the coop.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
In addition to bringing out fresh water daily during the winter, you can also put a container of snow in the coop for the chickens. That way they can get a good deep drink every day, plus nibble at snow (which they love) between times when they’re a little thirsty.
March 8th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
When you say you feed your chickens old wheat from food storage…what does that mean?
March 12th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Ann, I’ve never had a problem with freezing water, but some people on the chicken forum ( http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum ) have put 40 watt bulbs under a tin can that sits under the waterer and is just enough heat to keep things from freezing.
Elvi: by “old wheat from food storage” I’m referring to the wheat our family has kept in case of emergencies. We like to store a few months of emergency supplies “just in case” something really terrible happens. It is a good idea to rotate through these supplies after a bunch of years, and since we’re not up for eating a few month’s of wheat it goes to the birds… literally!
April 12th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
your are cheep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 24th, 2008 at 7:10 am
I’m nearing completion of my coop right now, I’m just getting ready to insulate and sheetrock. After seeing your feeder, I’ve been pondering building something similar “into” my coop. My plan is to use the gaps between the studs (2×4’s 16″ on center) as the chute. This way I’d only have to build a trough at the bottom and a door for refilling at the top. I could put the refill door inside or out, or maybe even both. and it will take up less floor space in my coop. Thanks for sharing your great idea.
May 6th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
I’m amazed at how dirty my 4 chicks get their water container everyday (by pooping in it or kicking up shavings). The water ‘inside’ the container is still fresh, but the part they drink from ends up filthy so I end up having to dump out the good water to clean the bowl. I was just wondering if you have to clean the ‘auto wata’ bowl everyday for the same reason? I ask cause I like the idea of a automatic waterer, and was trying to decide between the Little Giant (with small hanging bowl) or one like yours.. thanks!
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:33 am
Wow what a kindred soul you have. Duct tape and 16 penny nails! You make this old carpenter cry.
I have watched my chickens take a drink, turn 180 degrees and then poop right into the water. After observing this a few times I elevate the rim of the waterer to the height of their back. They have to strech a bit but the water stays a lot cleaner. It seems to help keep out the litter as well. A better idea I went with is to put a hardware cloth floor about 2 feet above the litter and suspend the waterer from the ceiling adjusting the height as needed.
I use a metal container instead of plastic because I need to keep the water from freezing. (Non heated coop) A 40 watt bulb directly in contact with the metal works in all but the coldest weather then I go with a 75 watt. The shade on the drop light keeps it away from the roost which is above. When I mix little chicks with the adults I put a small watterer outside the fence of the run where hens cannot knock it over. I also elevate it with bricks/blocks.
June 1st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Rett, that is a very interesting idea to use the stud cavity. I’d suggest you fill another one with oyster shell while you’re at it!
Alalele, keeping the waterer a little higher than their backs really helped keep the water clean. I actually put it even a little higher so they have to stretch a little to get at it, but the water was very clean. I say “was” because now that I’ve added a duck all hopes of a clean water bowl are gone!
estpr13, sounds like you’ve got a great setup! I’m really glad I don’t have to deal with freezing water containers, but I’ve seen the light bulb trick and it doesn’t take much to keep the water from freezing in most climates.
June 14th, 2008 at 3:55 am
Hello
Any idea where i can get 1/2 dozen nipple pecker i am in the process of making a water supply for the wifes 8 rescued battery hens they have come on leaps and bounds in about 4 weeks they are producing about 5….6 eggs a day but we get one soft shell nearly every day why? the diy is after my own heart ps we have just had a R A F Fly past chucks did bat a eye lid (LOL)