Plastic bottle to use: making a drinking bowl

If you want to save on equipment in the chicken coop, you can make your own waterer for chickens from a 5-liter plastic bottle. A well-made product will last a long time. And if it gets damaged, you can build a dozen more of these. A sippy cup made from this material has many advantages. And production costs are minimal. In this article we will reveal the secrets of manufacturing. We'll tell you how to make the container safe for birds.

Fulfilling the requirements will save you from problems

Sustainability

There are standards that a high-quality water container must meet.

The sippy cup should be such that the chickens cannot move it or turn it over. Birds must always have clean water. But they often pour it onto the litter.

It is impossible to monitor the amount of liquid in the drinker every minute. Therefore, options were invented that were attached to the wall. Or hanging at a safe distance from the floor.

Cleanliness and convenience

It is recommended to select a closed type container. In order for the water to remain clean, access to it must be closed. The chicken will put hay, grain, and feathers into the open drinking bowl. It may even defecate directly inside the structure.

Closed sippy cups protect water quality. Prevents the development of pathogenic microorganisms in it.

It is important that the structure is easily disassembled, cleaned of dirt, and disinfected.

One more point - the drinking bowl should not have sharp edges. Otherwise the chickens will get hurt. If pathogenic bacteria enter the wound, the bird will become ill. Damage to the larynx is possible.

We make a drinking bowl for chickens with our own hands from scrap materials

Like any other living beings, poultry needs not only food, warmth and lighting, but also a sufficient amount of clean water.
A do-it-yourself waterer for chickens will help satisfy all the needs of feathered pets and save money, which is never superfluous. Today, specialized stores have no shortage of equipment for arranging poultry houses and areas for poultry walking. And yet poultry farmers show genuine interest in homemade structures. This is explained by their simplicity and availability of components used in the work.

How to make a drinking bowl for chickens? What do you need to know and what to stock up on before starting work?

First of all, you should calculate the water needs of your wards and determine what type of drinking bowls it is better to make for the livestock.

The amount of water that chickens drink depends on their age, living conditions and feeding. The average amount of moisture consumed is usually taken as 0.5 liters. The mounting height of the equipment is determined based on the type of drinker and the age of the chicken. Read: DIY chicken waterer!

Novice poultry keepers, without thinking about the consequences, sometimes place open containers of water for the birds, thereby making several serious mistakes:

1. On hot days, moisture evaporates quickly and in the evening, without proper control, chickens may become thirsty.
2. It is possible that active chicks or adult chickens will knock over the vessel and be left without water at all.
3. Open homemade drinking bowls for chickens are dangerous because if they get into them, small chicks can not only get wet and hypothermia, but also drown.
4. In open-type drinkers, dust and insects, particles of droppings and litter inevitably settle, and a pathogenic environment develops that is dangerous for drinking birds.

Read also: Hisex Brown chickens: description of the breed, photo

Types of sippy cups

Drinkers are divided into several types. There are containers in the form of a trough. There are vacuum containers. Drip designs are popular.

Most known types of drinking bowls can be made with your own hands, spending a minimum of money.

In the article: “About the types of drinking bowls for chickens,” you will find various variations of water containers that have certain features.

Next, we will look at a simple, cheap and effective option for making a drinking bowl for chickens.

The material for this design is a plastic bottle. It costs a penny. And you can make a durable and reusable drinking bowl out of it.

How to make a waterer for chickens with your own hands

Any living creature requires not only food, but also fresh water. For poultry, you can make a homemade drinking bowl that will fully perform its functions and save money. Despite the fact that specialized stores have a lot of different equipment for arranging poultry houses, poultry farmers prefer do-it-yourself designs. Let's look at what types of drinking bowls there are and how to make a drinking bowl for chickens with your own hands.

Bird drinkers are divided into three types: microcup, nipple and vacuum.

• Microcup structures. The chicken pecks at a special rod, the valve comes into action and water from the reservoir begins to flow into the cup. This drinker can be used for all birds.
• Nipple drinkers for chickens. Convenient to use in cages. Widely used in automated farms.
• Vacuum structures. Used in households. Suitable for outdoor use and for cages. They allow you to maintain water at the same level for a long time, which saves its consumption.

Features of plastic container

Right choice

Any container from which you can drink water is suitable for chickens. But any drinking bowl is not always suitable for the farmer.

Chickens are in constant motion. Therefore, unstable and open containers often turn over and overflow. The result is wet bedding, plumage, paws.

This situation is dangerous for the chicks. Their body is not yet resistant to disease. And even a small breeze passing along the bottom of the poultry house can cause the young animals to catch a cold. Adult chickens are also at risk of contracting the disease if they are completely shed.

In order to save nerves and time, it is beneficial to install drinking bowls with closed access to water. It’s even better if the liquid is dispensed in portions.

Having several plastic bottles on hand, you can quickly install a drinker that is not inferior in requirements to purchased models.

Advantages

A plastic bottle was often used on the farm as a water trough. But you can make a high-quality drinking bowl out of it. Which will be able to provide water to the entire population of chickens.

For example, design a vacuum or nipple version. Such products ensure clean water. Safe to use.

A plastic bottle cannot be broken. And if all the edges and cuts are processed correctly, you cannot get hurt on it.

Such drinkers are easy to use. You can change the water or clean it from dirt at any time.

If any part bends or breaks, you won’t have to spend money on repairs. It's easier and faster to throw it away and make a new one.

The plastic bottle is highly translucent. Any water contamination becomes immediately noticeable.

Other benefits

Bottle drinkers are used when keeping chickens on litter and in battery cages. Placed indoors or in a cage. They can be installed in a walking enclosure. Or hang it outside the cage.

The advantage of a design made from plastic bottles is that it connects directly to the water supply. This feature saves time when keeping a large number of chickens.

If it is impossible to connect the drinker to an uninterrupted water supply, it is recommended to regularly monitor the water level.

Interesting option

This container can also be adapted for feeding chickens. In principle, all feed and drinking equipment in the poultry house can be made from plastic bottles.

In order for the bird to eat well without scattering or contaminating the food, it is preferable to make feeders, like drinking bowls, of a closed type.

It is recommended to use food and water containers. You should not design products from bottles that contained chemicals.

A drinking bowl or feeder for chickens must be safe for health. Non-toxic, without chemical compounds.

Minus

The disadvantage of equipment made of thin plastic is the freezing of water in the cold season.

But this problem can be solved by heating the entire territory of the poultry house. There are other options described in the article “Do-it-yourself winter waterers for chickens.”

Drinking system with nipple

A drip drinker for small chickens and growing young animals, equipped with a dosing nipple water supply, is made from a plastic container by inserting a nipple into the hole on the lid. The nipple will not allow water to pass through if it is treated with sealant or wrapped with FUM tape before connecting it to the plastic.

Read also: Borkovskaya Barvistaya breed of chickens: description, photos, reviews

A drinking bowl for chickens from a plastic bottle is filled with water, it is turned over with the nipple down, by pressing which the birds can drink.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantage of such a drinking bowl for chickens is safety, because... With such a supply system, water is supplied in doses when the bird requires it and in the volume that it needs.

The disadvantage of a nipple drinker for chicken is that only 1-2 birds can use it at a time, which creates a risk of crowding of young animals near the nipple, therefore the number of such drinkers is chosen based on the number of birds.

How to make your own vacuum type

The vacuum design gives the chickens water under vacuum. Liquid from the main tank gradually fills the drinking container.

To make an automatic drinker, you need to have a clean 5-liter bottle of water or food products. And also a bottle no larger than 2 liters, stationery scissors, wire, screws.

From a large container of 5 liters, 1/5 of the upper part is cut off. This will be the drinking cup. The caps from two bottles are placed one inside the other and secured with a self-tapping screw. It turns out to be a double lid.

A cap is screwed onto one side from the cut-off part of a larger bottle. Place it on a 2 liter bottle and screw it all the way. A hole is cut in a small container, near the neck.

Water is poured into a small bottle and turned upside down. Due to pressure, water will flow into the cap from a large container.

Vacuum drinking bowl

No tools are required when installing the vacuum drinker. It is a type of independent structure, easy to install, maintain and change. It is made from a 3-liter can, a drinking tray, wire, and an aluminum sheet. Typically, such drinkers are installed for small chickens, which sit and feed on the floor. To make a vacuum drinker with your own hands, you need:

1. An aluminum sheet is rolled with a diameter of 16 cm and a height of 11.5 cm. Its edges are twisted with wire.
2. At a distance of 4 cm from the edge, make a small hole with a diameter of 5 mm.
3. Place the finished sheet on the jar so that there is 4 cm left from the neck to the edge of the sheet.
4. Water is poured into the jar and covered with a tray.
5. Then the drinker is turned upside down and placed on a prepared stand.
6. When the chickens begin to grow, wooden blocks are placed under the pallet.

The advantages of the drinking bowl are that the water is always at the same level. You can make the same design, only from a plastic bottle. It is made as follows:

Read also: Feeders for broilers: photo ideas and do-it-yourself diagrams

1. The cap from a two-liter plastic bottle is fixed in the center of the bowl. The thread should be outward.
2. A fastener is put on the bottom of the bottle, from which it will be hung.
3. To ensure that the water is always at the same level, a small hole is made near the neck. The hole should be below the edge of the tray.
4. Then the container is filled with water and the lid with the bowl is screwed on.
5. The sippy cup is ready. Unlike the can design, this sippy cup is suspended and raised higher as the birds grow.

Making a nipple drinker

Operating principle

Nipple (drip) drinker saves water by 50% compared to other designs designed for drinking chickens.

The water is stored in a reservoir from which nipples emerge. When the chickens touch them with their beaks, liquid begins to drip. The bird will not be able to choke or get the bedding, feathers, or paws too wet.

Tools and assembly process

To construct a sippy cup with nipples from a plastic container you will need:

• 5 liter bottle;
• 1 nipple;
• sealant or similar material;
• electric drill;
• fasteners.

A hole is drilled in the bottle cap to match the diameter of the nipple. A nipple is inserted into the resulting hole and secured with sealant.

Water is filled into the bottle. The structure is turned over and in this position is attached, for example, to the wall of a chicken coop.

This is an easy way to construct a drip drinker from a plastic bottle.

More options for making drip water containers are presented in the article: “Types of nipple drinkers for chickens.”

Chick waterer

In the process of breeding poultry, it is important to provide the growing young animals not only with food, but also with the necessary amount of drinking water. In order to water the young, poultry farmers use purchased water supply systems, but some believe that a chicken waterer made from a plastic bottle with their own hands is not inferior in quality.

Chick waterer

Sippy cup made from a plastic bottle for chickens

Drinkers for chicks meet the same requirements as drinking sips for adult chickens.

The only thing that is taken into account when choosing or manufacturing a model is the small sides of the drinking container (up to 5 centimeters). So that the chicken has access to liquid. But he couldn’t dive into it and choke.

Making a drinking bowl for chickens with your own hands will take no more than 2 minutes. A simple option is a 5 liter plastic bottle with holes made. Their diameter allows only the chick's head to pass through.

Don't make the holes too close. To prevent the chickens from pushing. The diameter of the holes should be calculated correctly. So that the chick does not crawl inside the container, but can reach the water.

Homemade production

At the present stage, a wide variety of drinking bowls for chickens are being produced. Numerous photos serve as proof of this. However, not all devices are suitable for a large number of chicks. For this reason, it is better to make them at home with your own hands from scrap materials.

Use of plastic

Using a plastic bottle you can make a good device for chickens. And numerous photos and videos serve as excellent proof of this. Creating such a drinking bowl will not be difficult. Among the tools with materials, you will need to use a plastic container, a screwdriver, screws, and cutting devices. You also need to take two bottles.

To build a water device for chickens with your own hands, you will need to follow some steps:

1. The top part of the bottle should be cut off, moving 5 cm away from the neck. You should get a kind of cup.
2. The plastic container must be attached with screws to the resulting container from the inside, creating a kind of lid within the lid.
3. Stepping back 5 cm from the neck of the smaller bottle, it is recommended to make small holes. Their height should not exceed the depth of the large bowl.
4. The structure must be inserted into a pre-made frame or screwed to the wall with screws. Can be filled with water.

Nipple design

Even if the household is not large in size, there may be a need for automation. It will help simplify the care process. If you plan to breed broilers, you will need to feed them well. And in such a situation, nipple drinkers would be the best option. For broilers, making such a device from scrap materials will not be difficult.

You can build a drinking bowl with your own hands using a pipe, an outlet, a plug, a drip eliminator or nipple, a water tank and a liquid level regulator.

To get a homemade drinking bowl, you need to perform a few fairly simple steps:

1. Mark the places on the pipe where you need to drill holes for the drip eliminator. There must be at least 20 cm between them. The diameter of the holes is 9 mm.
2. It is recommended to screw nipples into the holes.
3. Install a plug on one side of the pipe.
4. He recommends cutting a hole for the hose at the bottom, inserting a thread into it and screwing the hose itself in directly.

The homemade drinking bowl is completely ready for use. You can find out what nipple devices are by watching the video.

Creating an automatic device

For broilers and other breeds of chickens, an automatic homemade drinker may be required. It’s not difficult to make it yourself. To do this, you will need to use a shallow container, a 1.5 liter bottle, and clamps for fastening.

In order to obtain a homemade design for broilers, you will need to perform some simple steps:

1. Attach the clips to your chosen container.
2. Fill the vessel with water and insert the fasteners so that they are 0.5 cm from the bottom.

At this point, the homemade drinker for broilers and chickens of other breeds is completely ready for use. In order to understand how such devices are created, you can look at numerous photos and videos.

Requirements for drinking bowls

In order for chickens to have comfortable access to water, it is important to use drinkers that have a number of characteristics, namely:

• They have a practical shape. The container should always be filled with water automatically or manually, so both chickens and humans should have free access to it.
• Stable. Dishes in the chicken coop often move or tip over, for example, when individuals fight. To minimize the likelihood of such “accidents”, you need to install stable drinking bowls.
• Prevents water pollution. In order for individuals to drink clean water, it is necessary to prevent dust and other contaminants from getting into it. To do this, it must be a closed type, since open structures are many times more likely to be infected by microorganisms, as well as contaminated with dust and bird droppings.
• Made from safe and durable material. If the drinker is made of breakable or splinterable material, it may break into pieces when dropped and cause injury to the bird. In addition, you should not use metal structures, as metal can release toxic fumes when it reacts with animal feces. So, the best option is plastic.

You can make a drinking bowl that meets the above requirements with your own hands. Beginners can start by making simple models, but more experienced craftsmen can make vacuum, nipple or drip drinkers.

Most popular designs

Hopper feeders for chickens and chickens are made in several ways from any available material. You can use simple plastic bottles, sewer pipes and much more.

From plastic bottles

The easiest way to make a homemade feeder is to use five-liter plastic bottles. To make this you will need 2 bottles, a knife and a flat bowl.

• 
  We cut one bottle into two equal parts. The upper part with the neck can be thrown away, and in the lower part we cut out several identical holes around the perimeter. Their size should match the size of the chicken's head.

• To prevent birds from being injured by the cut holes, their edges are carefully processed.
• Place the second bottle in the finished container and secure it. The bottle is placed upside down; the bottom is first cut off.
• The container is covered with a bowl after pouring the food. This is necessary to prevent precipitation and various debris from getting inside.

If you cut a hole several times larger, the feeder can be used as a water bottle for dogs.

From a plastic bucket

For production, use a plastic bucket with a lid and a sectional bowl. The size of the bowl should be larger than the diameter of the bucket.

• Using a utility knife, make the required number of holes at the bottom of the bucket.
• A bowl is attached to the bottom of the tank. Screws are used as fastenings.
• The food is poured inside the tank and closed with a lid. It protects the food container from chickens.

The compact bunker feeder made from a bucket is ready. A certain amount of food is automatically poured into the bowl. For small chickens, you can make a small nipping feeder using the same principle. A mayonnaise bucket is used as a base.

Automatic hopper feeder

You can make your own automatic bunker bird feeder from plywood and steel sheets

• First you need to prepare a design drawing. According to the drawing, the front and back parts are cut out of plywood. The size of the front part is 40x50 cm, the back one is 40x40 cm. They are connected by two side walls. In this case, the side elements should have a cone-shaped shape. The size of the lid is made several centimeters wider than the top of the container.
• All parts are fixed with clamps and screws.

To protect against the development of bacteria and parasites, the container is treated with an antiseptic.

Simple wooden model

For a large number of birds, a wooden feeder similar to a trough is made. This model is particularly strong and durable. You can put two types of food here: dry and wet. The structure is assembled from massive boards.

• To prevent various inconsistencies from appearing when assembling the product, the first step is to create a design drawing. It indicates the exact dimensions of the bottom, side and end walls, as well as beams. For example, the bottom size is 15x100 cm, while the two side walls have a size of 8x100 cm, the width of the end parts is 15 cm, the length of the top bar is 100 cm, and its width is 3 cm.
• We transfer the data from the drawing to the wooden material. We cut out each part and carefully connect it with fasteners. Nails or screws are used as fasteners. If there are gaps at the connection points, feed will spill out through them.

The feeder needs regular cleaning and cleaning , which is its only drawback.

PVC pipe model

Feeders for chickens made of plastic pipes are considered the most reliable and spacious. They can hold about 10 kg of feed, and the wall mount will prevent the container from tipping over. Using sewer pipes, vertical and horizontal feeders are made. Finding the material will not be difficult, since it is sold everywhere and has a low cost.

• Vertical design . The product is assembled from three pipes of different diameters and a tee. We take a pipe 20 cm long. We attach a tee on one side of the workpiece, and put on a plug on the other. It will serve as the bottom of the structure. The hole from which the chickens will peck food is made from a 10-centimeter piece of pipe. It is attached to the side elbow of the tee. The third pipe (70 cm) is installed on the remaining hole of the tee. The finished structure is fixed with brackets to the wall of the chicken coop. The feed is poured inside the pipe and closed with a plug. This will protect it from contamination.
• Horizontal design . The product will require a pipe 1 meter long. We cut out one longitudinal hole or many small ones in the middle of the pipe, and close its edges with plugs. The structure is installed on wooden legs, which are made from wooden blocks. The feeder and legs are fixed with self-tapping screws.

The disadvantage of feeders made from pipes is that they are difficult to clean.

Greenery feeder

To prevent broilers from dragging grass all over the cage, a green feeder is made from metal mesh and plywood. The fine mesh is bent into a ring , connecting the edges. Plywood is used as the bottom. Cover the top of the container with a lid. Thanks to its convenient design, dry grass can be easily replaced with fresh herbs.

Types of drinkers for chickens

From the bucket

Making a waterer for chickens with your own hands is very simple. An old unnecessary bucket is suitable for this. You need to fill it with water, cover it with any object (an old basin will do) and turn it over. That's all, a simple drinking bowl for chickens is ready.

You can see what it looks like in this photo:

To prevent the structure from becoming dirty over time, it is necessary to ensure that its upper edge is at the level of the bird’s back. And for convenience, connect both parts of the structure with twine or wire.

Depending on what food the birds receive, the size of the drinking bowl will depend. So, if the temperature in the chicken coop fluctuates within 17 degrees, then you need to pour 250-300 ml of water into the drinking bowl. Accordingly, these simple calculations will help determine the size of the drinking bowl.

The second version of such a drinking bowl is made as follows: take a bucket that has a hard lid, for example, a paint bucket. We also need to prepare another container - take a tray from under a flowerpot so that its diameter is larger than the diameter of the bucket. By the way, instead of a bucket, you can take a glass bottle. Use a drill to drill a small hole in the rim of the bucket and under the lid itself. Fill the container with water and close the lid tightly, securing it well. Then carefully turn the bucket over and place it on the pallet. Water from the small holes drilled will drip and collect in the pan. When it rises to the level of the holes, water will stop flowing out. This way, as soon as the chickens drink all the water, the drinking bowl will be filled with water again.

From the hose

Homemade drinking bowls for chickens can also be made from a garden hose. This type of drinker can be safely called a drip drinker. To do this, you need to take a hose and connect it to a water tap. Bend the other end of the hose to form a loop (droplet shape). Next, you need to hang the hose by a narrow hole at a height that will be convenient for an adult hen or chick to drink. Small holes are made in the hose at the bottom using a drill. When the faucet is turned on, the water will drip very slowly.

You don’t have to bend the hose drinker into a drop, but install it in the chicken coop, connecting it to a container with water and drilling small holes under which to place small containers for water.

When it’s cool outside, drinkers are built so that the water in them doesn’t freeze. To do this, place a wooden podium under a container of water that was used in the warm season, onto which an electric light bulb is attached (it is located at the bottom of the base). Thus, when the light bulb is turned on, it heats up and warms up the wooden base, and the water in the drinking bowl will always be maintained at room temperature.

From plastic bottles

Plastic is a very common material for constructing various devices with your own hands. It’s enough to simply build a homemade drinking bowl for chickens from plastic bottles. For this we need:

• two plastic bottles;
• plastic bowl;
• screws;
• screwdriver;
• knife or scissors.

Let's take one bottle (capacity two liters) and cut off the neck and bottom. Let's put it in a bowl, and place a smaller bottle (one and a half liters) in it with the neck down. This bottle will contain water. The cut bottle must be screwed to the wall using screws.

We make a drinking bowl from a 5 liter bottle ourselves

It is easy to equip a chicken coop with a vacuum drinker. Its meaning is that water automatically flows into the bowl. The process of water supply occurs as it is consumed and does not require constant human intervention. You just need to periodically refill the bottle with fresh water.

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You can also provide chickens with a nipple drinker. It has a slightly different device, thanks to which water constantly flows through the nipple. Chickens cannot get their dirty paws into a bowl of drinking water. It does not become contaminated, which means it cannot become a source of infection.

What do we need (materials and tools)

Making a drinking bowl will not take much time. This is a truly economical and affordable water container option for everyone.

To make a drinking bowl you will need a plastic bottle and a utility knife.

To get started, you will need a minimum set of materials:

• plastic transparent bottle with a volume of 5 liters;
• sharp knife, awl;
• a large bowl or cup, wider in diameter than the bottom of the bottle.

Step-by-step instruction

Before starting production, you should think about where the drinking bowl will be located. How convenient will such a water bowl be for chickens? It is possible that in poultry house conditions a container with a nipple tip would be preferable.

If all the materials are ready and a place for water has been found, then step-by-step production will not cause difficulties:

1. A small hole is made in the bottle, at a distance of 15 cm from the base.
2. Thoroughly wash the container from previous residues and rinse with an antiseptic.
3. The container is filled with water. While filling, cover the hole with tape or your hand.
4. The bottle is placed in a cup.

The principle of operation of such a drinker is as simple as possible: water flows through a hole from the bottle into the cup. As soon as it reaches the level of the hole, the flow of water stops. As chickens consume liquid, it will be used up. At the same time, fresh water comes from the bottle, constantly maintaining the level in the bowl set by the hole.

To make a vacuum drinker you will need a bottle and a basin.

Important! Over time, depending on the purity of the water, a green coating may appear on the walls of the bottle. It is better to get rid of such containers and replace them with clean ones.