[Stereo]

My number of flocks is growing and I currently use the 25-30 litre bell drinkers up the field. This is OK but my water pressure up there is hopeless so each one takes 15 mins to fill which makes drinkers a major headache at the moment. So I 'm looking to keep them but also have some sort of auto solution. Options seems to be the red hanging ones, the nipple drinkers or the little cup ones. I want something I can hook up to a water butt or whatever with a ball valve in it and a permanent hose connection to all pens. So I turn on a tap and though it may take all day, they will all eventually fill up. So, say I had a 210L water butt in each pen with a hose connection and ball valve, what's the best and most robust way of taking gravity water off that to drinkers?

I don't think this is a winter solution but that's fine. It's the summer really. I hate to get up there and find a flock out of water. The guilt is too bad!

[Victorian Farmer]

I'm thinking water but whith nippel  drinkers in the bottom and ball valve for the top if you use a wooden top it's OK to minus 4.or might put gutter on the chicken shed and fill.

[Dave C]

My pheasant pens are quite remote so I use 1000 ltr IBC's.
We take blue alcatheane pipe from the bottom then have multiple outlets to Pheasant, Partridge and outside tray drinkers, each having ball cocks to auto fill.

[Womble]

IME the nipple drinkers are a great solution IF you can get the birds to use them.

If it were me, I'd order a few nipple drinkers from Ebay (they're dirt cheap shipped from China etc), and screw them into the bottom of a 5 litre bucket, just to see if your birds will use them. If they will, you're sorted because they never need any cleaning at all. Just beware that if you try to screw them into a round pipe, they may not seal properly.



If they won't use those, the hanging auto-drinkers are also easy enough, and can be cleaned by wiping round with a rag. They're harder to rig up, and more expensive though.



The best way to rig them up will depend on the layout of your pens, but one good way would be to have an elevated water butt in the middle of the area (filling off a ball-cock), and then daisy chain the drinkers off that until all the pens are sorted.

HTH!

[Stereo]

Cheers all. I like the look of the hanging ones but it can get quite windy in the field and I worry they would swing and spill the water quite quickly. Also the pipes look fairly small so would worry about blockages. I guess I just need to try a few ideas.

[Marches Farmer]

Fearing do a 1/2" hose-connected valve that we use for a water bucket when we have lambs in the field and don't want them to have to traipse down to the stream every time they want a drink.  Needs about 20cm depth of water to work and a bucket with a flat back works best.

[Womble]

Yes, the bell type definitely swing in the wind. I never found that to be a real problem, though mine just hung from the feeder pipe, which gave them a bit of stiffness.  On that type, the cap unscrews and there is a filter underneath. If it stops working, that's usually the culprit. I'd definitely also have a filter on the butt outlet, especially if using rainwater, which I think would need one on the way in as well.

[Stereo]

Yeah, sort of discounted rainwater. I've designed but not yet built a rainwater collector drinker which will sit out in the pen but I think there would be too much junk off the roof for those little pipes and filters would need constant clearing. So the auto system would be clean mains water I think. I suppose a hanging drinker could be kept in place with 4 wooden pegs knocked in around it.