For those of you that raise chickens yearlong in a climate which can get relatively cold in the winter, you know that it can be difficult to have low-cost watering system that is not only efficient on energy and water, but also easy to allow you to not spend a vast amount of time manually filling or emptying your water buckets.
I created this system with a few goals:
1. Eliminate water waste
2. Retain a level certain level of autonomy in my watering system during winter
3. Provide a watering system that would not freeze over and damage the watering system
4. Use the lowest amount of electricity possible
With that said, I have a PVC watering system that I created a while back using ideas from this forum and other websites. I have an elevated bucket with a garden hose nozzle installed, and pvc pipe running from the bucket into my chicken run with poultry nipples attached.
With the winterized design, we modify the original design to bring in a source to heat the water in the bucket (submersible birdbath heater), and simultaneously pump the heated water through the system and back into the bucket. We add a winter thermocube to the design to allow us to activate the heater and the pump a few degrees before the outside temperature reaches the point of freezing.
Should your poultry nipples freeze over due to wind chill, the heated running water will defrost them over time. To prevent this from occuring often, I reccomend putting your thermocube where wind can pass over.
Depending on where you buy from, and what materials you already have, this system should cost around $65. It is likely that you could expand upon this design to leverage wind or solar power, but I couldn't balance out the cost to benefit ratio with my design and my conditions.
I created this system to be used with 4-6 chickens. If you raise more than that, I would suggest that you increase the size of the bucket, increase the birdbath heater, and increase the pump, or get multiple systems. I also created this system to be used in relatively temperate climates. If you are constantly in subzero temperatures, this likely won't work for you. I'd also like to note that it may be a good idea to buy a small electrical timer and simply disconnect the heater during the summer. This will cycle the water on a semi regular basis, keeping the water clean and preventing your watering system from becoming an attractant to mosquitos.
Enjoy!
I created this system with a few goals:
1. Eliminate water waste
2. Retain a level certain level of autonomy in my watering system during winter
3. Provide a watering system that would not freeze over and damage the watering system
4. Use the lowest amount of electricity possible
With that said, I have a PVC watering system that I created a while back using ideas from this forum and other websites. I have an elevated bucket with a garden hose nozzle installed, and pvc pipe running from the bucket into my chicken run with poultry nipples attached.
With the winterized design, we modify the original design to bring in a source to heat the water in the bucket (submersible birdbath heater), and simultaneously pump the heated water through the system and back into the bucket. We add a winter thermocube to the design to allow us to activate the heater and the pump a few degrees before the outside temperature reaches the point of freezing.
Should your poultry nipples freeze over due to wind chill, the heated running water will defrost them over time. To prevent this from occuring often, I reccomend putting your thermocube where wind can pass over.
Depending on where you buy from, and what materials you already have, this system should cost around $65. It is likely that you could expand upon this design to leverage wind or solar power, but I couldn't balance out the cost to benefit ratio with my design and my conditions.
I created this system to be used with 4-6 chickens. If you raise more than that, I would suggest that you increase the size of the bucket, increase the birdbath heater, and increase the pump, or get multiple systems. I also created this system to be used in relatively temperate climates. If you are constantly in subzero temperatures, this likely won't work for you. I'd also like to note that it may be a good idea to buy a small electrical timer and simply disconnect the heater during the summer. This will cycle the water on a semi regular basis, keeping the water clean and preventing your watering system from becoming an attractant to mosquitos.
Enjoy!
Winterized Chicken Watering System
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