Thanks for this demo. What might make a nice next version could be a fill indicator.... Maybe like a flag on a little bobber that you could see with the bucket lid on (or other mosquito suppressing covering). If the flag is floating tall above the bucket, it's full, and it it's far down it is ready for more water. I'll get some of these!
Decent video...but the only thing I noticed that was seriously off about your chicken coop was that you have welded wire covering the floor (obviously to keep predators from digging in). The problem with this is that your chickens are going to want to scratch at the dirt and make a dust bath in the dirt...and they can't do that if you have welded wire as your coop's floor. A better way to do predator prevention is to install hardware cloth around the outside perimeter going away from the coop like an apron.
Go to Rent a Coop's website and see what they offer. If they show these drinking cups mounted to a metal bucket, then I would imagine that you could. You could always contact their customer service at the toll free number on their website too!
TheKiltedKraut, thank you for the response. I actually tried it already. They absolutely worked on a metal bucket, with a touch of added silicone. Floater auto-filler works too, connected to a rain barrel. Great set-up for Summer. But silly me, of course the water IN the cups freezes in Winter! So, I’ll likely use this for my Freedom Rangers.
the galvanized buckets still rust, but i'm not sure if that's because some of the surface got messed up and water got to the parts that weren't protected. but as long as what you're using won't rust, you should be ok.
I went ahead and tried it right after I asked. It worked last summer, no rust, but the plate can’t keep the water warm enough, the cups freeze. Felt like a “duh” moment, I should have known. The meatballs are really hard on them, too. But I like the set up!
First time chicken owner here. Ours are 16 weeks old and I have had those rent a cups for a while now. I do like them a lot. However, my question is what is the best way to keep the cups clean of dirt? Our cups get dirt in them, not a lot of dirt just usually some that floats down to the bottom. Sometimes one or a couple of them will get a lot of dirt. Is it even bad that it gets some dirt in the water of the cups? Should I leave it alone until next time I fill the bucket up? I use a 5 gallon bucket and I have a pvc pipe waterer, both have the cups. Lately I’ve been emptying out the water every couple of days just to get the dirt out, which defeats the purpose of having an automatic watering system like this.
You might check on your angle the cups are at. The cup stops filling once the pressure pushing it down is great enough and then refills as the cups rises again (as it’s becoming lighter from them drinking). The cups usually hang a bit below the bucket so that they can create that angle needed as the fill so they will stop filling up. No angle = it keeps on filling. This is why you see everyone then put the n\bucket onto some kind of cement block (so the cups aren’t interfered with). I hope that helps!
