Under the Choko Tree By Nevin Sweeney

Making a High Storage Capacity Chook Feeder and Waterer

A number of friends of ours have expressed a reluctance to keep chooks, mainly due to the commitment required, or at least their perception of the commitment. Chooks really do not need any more care and attention than a cat or dog and in some cases they need less. To make things easier, it is possible to set things up so they can make use of feeders and waters that provide the necessities of life over a longer time. The bonus is that they can be made at home quite cheaply.

Obviously whatever happens you need to keep an eye on your chooks but if you do go away for a few days there is no need to fret, and you can get a friend or neighbour to keep an eye on them. With the burden of providing food and water removed, you are more likely to get volunteers.

The feeder and waterer described below were put together by a friend of mine and have been in service for over 6 months.

Feeder

Making the feeder is easy, and recycled materials can be used with the addition of one bought fitting, although who knows, you may be able to find one second hand. The container can be almost anything which has a lid, in the case of my friend used a couple of small (20 litre or so) ‘wheelie bins’. They work well because they are light, have good capacity, are easy to move about and have a weatherproof lid.

Side View

To turn the bin into a feeder he cut a 95mm diameter hole in the side of the bin near the bottom. This could be done by drilling a series of holes around the perimeter, punching out the centre then using a file to smooth off the edges or by cutting the hole out with a jig saw. Once the hole was cut, he fitted in a 90mmf x 90⁰ bend flanged tank overflow outlet into it with the bend facing down and using self-tapping screws through the flange into the bin to secure it. Job done!

From the top

When the bin is filled with pellets or grain the chooks feed out of it and more drops through from above keep the feeding area stocked as they consume it.

A 90mmf x 90⁰ bend flanged tank overflow outlet - side view

Note: the 90mmf x 90⁰ bend flanged tank overflow outlet is available from hardware stores for under $5 (2014 prices)

The waterer

This one is almost as simple. A fitting is needed which can be obtained cheaply (a dollar or two each) on the internet and is called a poultry watering nipple, they generally come in red or yellow and I have been told the red ones are the best but the yellow ones seem to work OK too.

Note the nipple on the bottom of the container

Inside the plastic sleeve is a stainless steel grommet through which a piece of steel which looks like a nail with a conical head passes followed by a small stainless steel weight. The chook pushes up on the ‘nail’ with her beak which unseats the conical bit and allows water to flow into the chooks beak.

The container, again, can be just about anything that will hold water. My friend used some 20litre water cooler bottles, these can be picked up second hand quite cheaply from recycling centres such as Reverse Garbage, but anything which holds water and you can drill through will work.

Set up and ready for use

The nipples must be vertical to work so you have to drill in the bottom of the container. An 11/32” diameter drill works for the yellow ones. Drill the hole and gently screw in the nipple, don’t get too aggressive or you will strip the thread and it will leak. In any case, put a thin bead of silicon around where the nipple enters the container to prevent leakage.

Poultry Nipple Waterer assembled (above) and exploded (below)

Once the nipple is secured fill the container with water and check for leaks. You might need to pump the ‘nail’ up and down while the chooks are around so they will work out this is where to get the water from. An advantage for this type of waterer (apart from volume and cheapness) is that the water source is enclosed so it won’t get contaminated by the dust and crap that the chooks will scratch up as part of their daily activities. The water going in must be clean, any particulate matter may cause the nipple to leak so keep an eye on them. Having a couple of waterers is probably not a bad idea, they are cheap enough to put together.

So now that your last objection to owning chooks has been laid to rest, get chooking!

 

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