In this tutorial, I show you how to make a clean, efficient nipple waterer for your chicks using a push-in poultry nipple and a couple of easy-to-find items. If you’d rather not do this yourself, you can purchase one of our ready-to-use Brooder Bottles here.
Products & Supplies
How to make a simple nipple waterer for your chick brooder
Saturday, March 30th, 2013
NEW: Chick Brooder Cages
Wednesday, March 6th, 2013
I’m gonna miss hearing the “cheep, cheep, cheep. . . “ of baby chicks this spring. Our current backyard flock is still healthy and laying strong, so it could be another couple years before we get to raise another batch of chicks.
I’ll be ready for them, anyway.
The first time we raised chicks, we rigged up a large cardboard contraption as their brooder and kept them in the garage. It did the trick, and as new chicken owners we had a lot of excess energy to put into making it work. Daily cleanup was a process, and the final cleanup (dust everywhere) was even more involved.
This last go-round, we brooded them outside in the hen house of The Garden Ark, then graduated them to The Garden Coop hen house. That worked out really well, since keeping them outside also kept the dust outside.
But next time, the coops may still be occupied, so we’re gonna start them in one of these wire cage brooders that we now offer at TheGardenCoop.com. Take a look.
How do you brood your backyard chicks? What’s worked and not worked for you? Leave a comment below and let us know!
DISCOUNT CODE: $5 Off Large Nipple Waterer
Monday, February 18th, 2013
UPDATE: This discount code expired on 2/28/13. If you’d like to be notified of new posts as they happen, including sale announcements like this one, subscribe to Coop Thoughts. It’s free, ad-free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Keep your backyard chickens’ water clean and lasting longer between changes with one of our 3.5-gallon nipple waterers.
Through February only, save $5 on each waterer you order (3.5-gallon size only). Your waterer comes ready to use with lid, hooks, and changing base. Literally, just add water!
Click here to order. To get your discount, simply add a large waterer (or two, or more. . .) to your cart, then enter code FEB35.
Good through February 2013.
NEW: Original Chicken Art Notecards
Tuesday, November 27th, 2012
My wife, Angie, has been doing these beautiful colored pencil chicken portraits over the past year or so. Now she’s chosen her five favorites and had them professionally printed as notecards.
We’re excited to offer sets of these chicken notecards (with matching envelopes) at TheGardenCoop.com. They make great gifts, thank yous, or notes for any occasion.
Hope you like them! Use discount code NEWCARDS for 10% off all our cards. Good through December 31, 2012.
NEW: Quick Kits for The Garden Coop and The Garden Ark chicken coops
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012
They’re here! Our new chicken coop hardware Quick Kits for The Garden Coop and The Garden Ark let you build your backyard chicken coop even easier and faster.
In one box you get all the screws, staples, nuts, bolts, washers, nails, roofing screws, latches, hinges, braces, and more that you need to build your coop. All that’s left for you to shop for are the bulky items: wood, roofing, hardware cloth, pier blocks (Garden Coop), and stain/paint. (more…)
NEW: Chicken coop hardware Quick Kit for The Garden Ark
Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
You can now build The Garden Ark mobile chicken coop easier and faster than ever, thanks to our new chicken coop hardware Quick Kit.
* UPDATE (11/14/12): We now also offer a Quick Kit for The Garden Coop.
In one box you get all the screws, staples, nuts, bolts, washers, nails, roofing screws, latches, hinges, braces, custom-cut tubing, and wheels you need to build this modern mobile tractor design.
All that’s left for you to shop for are the bulky items: wood, roofing, hardware cloth, and stain/paint.
The Quick Kit is the perfect companion to The Garden Ark plans for a number of reasons:
- It’s got just what you need — the right parts in the right amounts. So you can dive right into your project.
- It’s priced at what you’d expect to pay if you bought these items locally.
- It includes only high-quality parts, so you don’t have to settle for what your nearby hardware stores might carry.
I build a Garden Ark or two each year and began thinking of these kits as a way to streamline my own shopping. Now you can enjoy the same efficiencies — I’ll shop, you build!
Learn more and order your chicken coop Quick Kit here.
If you’ve already built The Garden Ark — or The Garden Coop, for that matter — please leave a comment and let me know if something like this would have come in handy for your coop build.
Poultry nipples for making your own chicken waterer
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
In addition to fully assembled chicken waterers, we’re now also offering the push-in poultry nipples you need to make your own.
These are the same push-in style nipples we use to make our waterers, sold separately in packs of five. They are made of quality stainless steel parts inside a durable, hard, red plastic casing, and they’re sealed with a long-lasting silicone grommet. Made in China.
Use a 3/8″ drill bit to make a hole in your tubing or container. Insert the grommet first, then the nipple. Moistening it may help it go in easier. If you are going to seal your container, be sure to create a separate hole near the top (above the water line) so that air can enter as the water goes out.
These are the same push-in style nipples we use to make our waterers, sold separately in packs of five. They are made of quality stainless steel parts inside a durable, hard, red plastic casing, and they’re sealed with a long-lasting silicone grommet. Take a look.
New nipple waterer for chickens
Tuesday, September 27th, 2011Several months ago on the advice of a customer, I decided to make a DIY nipple waterer for our backyard chickens. Our birds were just chicks at the time, and keeping them supplied with fresh, clean water with their jar-and-saucer waterer was a frequent chore.
So I fashioned a simple waterer from a used plastic jug and a poultry nipple I bought online. The chicks took right to it, and the difference was remarkable.
No more spilled water. No more poopy water. No more worrying that their water had run dry.
When the flock graduated to the coop, their makeshift waterer went with them, and I started working on a more permanent solution for their larger space.
Here’s the nipple waterer I came up with — which I now also make to sell — and some videos showing you what you get and how it works. (more…)
