This is so cool! Haven’t seen this set up. I think I (65 year old grandma) can do this! I have over 80 chickens and it wears me out filling water for ducks and chickens at least every other day. Thanks a bunch!
Cool, feeder and water, I watched this video and love the amounts of feed that you can put in it, my 14 year old son has about 30-40 chicken's that he feeds every day after school, his feeder's on hold about 5-7pounds and it don't last long this will help him big time thanks for sharing this video!
I started raising chickens at his age and have became addicted lol. I have around 80 chickens a incubator full of eggs and plan on hatching around 500 this year 😂
I have the same feeders. Did them about 4 yrs ago with those large garbage cans you bring out to the road. A friend worked as a garbage man and got me a few old cans. They work amazing. Love that they have wheels .
I've done this and will tell you without more ports in that large of a feeder you have a huge area of feed that will sit and go bad/mold. The chickens simply cant reach in and get to the whole bottom to eat so it just sits. A 55 gallon barrel feeder really needs ports all around it to for the most part stop it. I say for the most part because there is still a section in the center they can't reach that sits. As for waterers I use horizonal nipples. I swapped to them 5 years ago and out of the 20 or so in use I think I've had 3 go bad.
Yeah, thanks for the tip. When the feed gets low. I just dump it out so they can scratch through it on the ground. I don't pile new feed on top of old feed. There are all kinds of ways to fix that problem. Like you said, more feed ports is an easy way to fix it.
Great idea on the feeder... however I build a 5 gallon version of this years ago and once the mice get wind of your feeder, they will empty it out quickly. I converted to a tube style feeder that I built with a hardware cloth top to keep critters out of and it has the ability to close up nightly at the bottom where the chickens feed from. I have not had mice attack my feeders anymore.
How do you make a tube style feeder? My husband's parents had 800 chickens but it was in Sweden . We are in California now with a lot of , for us, unknown critters. Want to make sure our chickens are safe and have food😂
My grandpa used an old toilet tank with direct water filling. He just took the plunger out. So when the float dropped and the water kicked on it filled the pipe up and filled up the water feeders connected to the pipe.😂
Thank you for this!👍. My husband & I were thinking of going on a trip and he asked me, "what about the chickens? Who's going to feed & water them?" Definitely going to be making both of these.👍 Thank you.🥰🙏
The 55 gallon water is a great idea for people who live off grid and may just be getting started and have to haul water. Its nice to fill it and not worry about refilling every day when it gets hot out.
I like the water cup that have the float shut offs. They are cheap and dependable. I always turn the cups up against the bucket or barrel so they don’t get knocked around. I have a few of the little giant hanging basins but they are a bit of a learning curve and $35 each. For 5 hens a 5 gallon bucket is good for a week’s worth of water supply. And easy pick up wash out with spray nozzle or carry to a hose somewhere to get a bath. The feeders here aren’t for me I’d have nice and rats out the wazoo in no time. I use treadle feeders now and rarely see any rats anywhere now.
Great innovation. Thank you for sharing. However, that red drinker seems to be dangling as the chickens touch it. I guess water spillage is possible when they begin playing around, especially as they chase one another
Great video! I appreciate the detail you give in building these. The Amazon link for the 3" street elbow is not the same as you used anymore. I was able to find them in a quick internet search. Thank you!
There are kits for those feeders for 5 gallon buckets. Three 5 gallon buckets only last two days. Most of it got wasted. I have 16 birds and they only need 4lbs a day.
You should use rain gutters and hook them into the barrel and never worry about filling it again. Maybe a filter for debris or a charcoal too to keep water nice. More money but more water.
Good stuff. The feeder will work for me, but I live in northern Minnesota, so a heated watering system is a must. I'll figure one out and let you know.
Liked the video and plan to make something similar today with my main man. Just curious how you heat the water in the winter if you're in a cold climate location? ALSO, you experience no overflow of feed out the PVC spouts? Love the simplicity you used. Thanks for sharing with the People!
Hi. I don't have issues with birds pulling out food. If you mix food, such as corn and pellets, or use scratch, then yes you will have issues. Certain birds will like one or the other and then pull it out. If you have this issue just get some duct take and make a little lip on the bottom. Or you could make a drop box underneath to catch the overflow.
like the idea. However, it doesn't look like the chickens can reach the bottom of the feed barrel. If you keep pouring new feed on top how do you keep the feed on the bottom, that they can't reach, from going rancid?
@lobo13 Yes I will also make the waterer. I use deep compost bedding in winter for heat in the hoop coop. Then they are on pasture when it is warm. My coop is on skids so I can move it to a new spot and clean up the old area.
Your watering drum is great. But what do you do about the rats for the feed? Rats are going to get in your Coupe and go straight for the feed. So what do you do to keep the rats at Bay?
That didn’t look consensual at 11:35 Lol Thanks for the vid. I’m always looking for improved ideas. Currently looking for Water freezing mitigation. In the spring I’m switching to your dome technique. Thank u
Could I do this with a 2 or three gallon Waterer? I have 12 chickens and like to change the water every few days. Thank you for this video! It’s so easy to follow!! Best one yet. I’m going to try this in the next few days😊
Just got mine installed- same set up for both feeder and waterer. Took a bit from Farmer Boy because the waterer was backordered. Can’t think of a better way to water 44 chickens, soon 52.
I am curious..what happens to all the feed at the bottom of drum. Do you have to empty that ever now and then so it doesn't go bad? Nice video. Good job 👍
You should have drilled your hole in the barrel, for the water feed line, closer to the bottom because it will still have 4"of stagnant water in the bottom when it drains into the drinker. This way, all the water in the barrel will drain out & not leave 4" of useless water in the barrel.
Water is fluid, it moves. It's not as if the water below the hole gets stagnant. Also, my water level never gets that low. I fill this up every week regardless.
One of the best videos I've found so far. How does this waterer hold up over the winter months? Do you have any tips to make this work smoothly over winter?
I feed about 250 lbs per day and water about 30 gallons per day in my broiler house alone.. Been looking for a good solution to cut down on work.. Not sure I could trust all that water in one container that a malfunction might happen and flood the broiler house or lose birds to lack of.. The feeder has potential with some engineering changes. My floor level also raises about 10-12 inches with every 8 week crop so I like hanging feeders for that reason.. But you have my head working.. Thanks
Great video. Loving it. Thanks for sharing the information. Can you please share the height of the wooden base for the chicken waterer? I can see you build of 4x4 wooden material so 32” or 24”
Regarding how to keep the water from freezing during the winter when making a waterer of this size? Or if that would even be an issue. We have really cold winters here in Oklahoma. We currently have a 5 gallon waterer that we use a ceramic heat light to keep from freezing. Actually I just realized my solution lol.
3:50 Run you drill backwards first, to start. Makes it way easier. 5:50 You are taking way more effort than need be to pop those fittings in. Best thing to do is, right before you break through with the hole saw, drill a hole just big enough that lets the knob pass though with easy, at the bottom. When you put the fitting in you simply rotate it into position. Plug the bottom hole with anything the chickens can't rip apart. When it comes time to clean the barrel you can easily take them out. When done get some non treated 3/8ths plywood and cut a diverter plate for the bottom of the barrel. Cut it so the feed slides down to the fittings and there is none back on the other side just sitting there getting old. You can use a bit of cardboard to get the inicial template. Once you get a semi tight fit cut a few layers using the 3/8s. Layers is for the weight of the feed and you can fold the plywood easier to get it in the barrel. Once you get the layers ready to screw together, get a bicycle tire tube (just big enough to pull over the diverter) and slip it over. hopefully you made a good seal. Done this once before for a friend and it worked out nice. However I have done it with cement before and that took way less time and effort. Laid the drum on it's side, at an angle and poured some water in and got the right angle I wanted. And added some food coloring. Drilled a 1/2" hole directly under to let the water out. Marked the line where the food coloring was. Took utility knife and remarked it, Drilled holes in a few places below that line. Got some vinegar and a scotch brite scrubbing pad and scrubbed 1/2in to 3/4" above the line and ALL over under the line, it will not bond well if you do not do this. Screwed in 3in bolts into the holes, to keep the concrete in place for ever just in case it did not bond well. Mixed the concrete and poured it in while keeping the angle. Smoothed it out, brushed the surface for texture. Poured a HIGH gloss oil based paint right on top and let it self level. Took less than the pint but used all of it anyway. The whole process took round 2 hrs. Not counting the overnight to let the concrete set. The concrete being a bit heavier was an added bonus. when the barrel is low the wind won't blow it over. If you want it lighter you can always use the stuff they use in crime scenes to make impressions/molds of footprints and things like that. No need for the paint or bolts. All you need to do is drill some deck screws into it to hold in place. Stuff is cheap and mean not to shrink. Tho getting it away from the wall and making a cone out of some sheet metal may be a way better thing. There are many, online cone making template makers, where you tell it the diameter and how tall and it will tell you what gauge metal to use and how much overlap to do. Predrill holes and pop rivet once it's in the drum. For the water I always tell people to invert the barrel for a better system ( have pix if interested) but for you putting the barrel might be a better thing.
I like what you did but, I have a suggestion. Instead of cutting the top of your barrel off and then cutting a hole near the bottom, why not just get a longer piece of hose, put a weight on the end that goes into the barrel. Then drop that into the barrel through one of the existing caps, or I guess you could cut a small hole in the top, like you did on the bottom and then fish the hose to one of the caps to put on the weight, and then pull enough hose through your small hole so that the hose & weight will drop to the bottom of the barrel. Then fasten (tape or glue) the hose down the backside of the barrel and use the siphon method to feed your waterer. You could even put the barrel outside your coop and run just the hose into your coop. As long as the barrel is sitting higher than your waterer, the siphon should work just fine and it should never stop unless you let the barrel run completely out of water, and this would fail regardless of which method you used. You could get a small one way valve so the water will never flow backwards. You could also install a small "T" with a shutoff on the "free" side (the other side would be connected to your waterer) down near your waterer. That way, if for any reason you need to restart the siphon, you don't have to disconnect your waterer. You just hook up another small piece of hose to the "free" side of the "T", open the valve, suck to start the siphon and once the water starts flowing again you close the shutoff.
All that sounds extremely complicated. I didn't cut the top off my waterer, only the feeder. This set up works great as is. Thanks for the tip, I'm sure someone will benefit from your comment.
Not all chickens dump the feed out. Sometimes I'll get a random rooster that likes to feed his ladies and knock feed out. You can do the semi circle plastic you suggested or just make one out of a couple layers of duct tape. I have enough chickens that any feed that spills gets immediately eaten up.
Subscribed….. it’s hard to find wateres that are easy to keep clean, chickens always find a way to crap in their water….. the best I used so far was water cups but I might try this, never seen a bell waterer
@@NicholsCounty I put a cage over it so they could only put their heads in and not step on it…… but now I live in an area that freezes so cups are not an option 🙁
If it's in direct sunlight it will grow algae. If in the dark, it's not bad at all. But you just clean as needed with a pressure washer or a long brush.
I like the waterer, but that line going through a hole has to leak, at least a little. Why not install a bulkhead fitting and quick connect? That's what I'm shopping for to do this same thing with that modification. Thanks for the ideas.
@@NicholsCounty ok, i drilled a 5/16" hole and was able to push the hose through from the outside after warming it a bit with a lighter and it's working great. I can always add a valve later if it starts to leak. Thanks
I probably won't. People frown on that kind of stuff on RU-vid. I put a link in the description of this video to the bucket traps I use. They're easy to use and work well.
How is the waterer for staying clean?? I find our girls get it so dirty. Maybe i have it hanging too low. 🤔🤔🤔 I like this because i doubt it'll really freeze in winter. We're in the NC mountains. So the temperature next to never gets to cold, at least not for very long. Thanks for a wonderful video & all the practical tips.
You don't control the amount of water that comes out. The bell waterer automatically does that (there is a weight in the bell waterer that holds it level and when it senses low water it auto fills). All you have to do is give it a water source.
Hi. Thanks for sharing this design. I’m curious how water doesn’t leak from the hole where the tube fits in. Please let me know. I’m using the deep litter method, and I can’t have water leaking in the coop
Wow, this is awesome. I’ve been struggling on how to do something like this the only thing is my chicken coop is not big enough to put those drums in there. Do you think they can work from the outside maybe using something different or either way I love this thank you 🤗🙏🏻
Some times you'll get a chicken that pulls a lot of feed out. You can make a little lip on these with duct taoe to mitigate that problem. Or you can block off the whole until they eat all the food on the ground. Just make sure this is in a dry place and the feed on the ground won't go to waste.
@@NicholsCounty I've seen a few folks do it and it works really well. Some even cut a end cap in half and placed it over the mouth to prevent any kind of spillage.
Not scrolling 400+ comments but the only improvement on this feed setup. Would be some type of cone so the feed is pushed out to the sides. Essentially some feed in the bottom middle would never be eaten.
Hey your video is amazing, I will be doing it soon, can you help me out. There are rats and mice at my place. What will I do to prevent the rats from going into the hole and ruining the food inside?
Great video. Getting supplies together now. Do you have a rough estimate on the dimensions for the stand? I know you just through it together but I’d like to make one trip to the store if possible. Thank you!
Thanks a lot. Everything came out beautifully. I ordered the feed ports cause they were cheap and came with the drill bit, super clean and easy to install. Thanks for the help and am looking forward to my 6 chickens having an extremely long term source of feed and water.
Thank you for an informative video. I've had chickens for years but am just realizing the benefits of 55 gal drums vs 5 gal bucket. One question....would 55 gal steel drum work for this too (obviously cutting tools would be different) or any tweaks to make it work?
I raise Gamefowl. Every male needs to be separated once they crow. I single pair my fowl. Do you have maybe a conversion of this much smaller. Like maybe a half kilo of food and perhaps two liters of water. Chicken tip is get acidified copper sulfate. Mix 1/8 a tablespoon per gallon of water and green stuff won’t grow during the hot season and it kills bacterial growth in fowl.
I already had one for feeding. But I am getting ready for winter and looking for water solution. I have 80 chickens and was thinking of cutting the rim for the water barrel the same way we have done for the feeder in order to drop a heating element down into it. But I was wondering if by cutting the top for a lid on the water would it create too much gravity and force a leak on the hole for the hose? Anyone know?
If you use the same bell waterer I have you'll be fine. Same with those little water cups. You can always flip the lid upside down as well after you cut it off, won't seal well, but will keep chickens and other things out of there.
Wondering how this has worked out for you. Talking about the water barrel's. I did this for 100 birds but found very difficult to keep slim from growing inside the barrel.
You have to clean them out ever couple of months. You can always paint them black to help. Or there I'd an additive you can put in the water to stop algea growth.
