Chicken Feeder Update (and Chicken Waterer)

It's finally finished. 

What a frustrating project! 

It sat for a few weeks until I found someone to lend me their hole saw. Then, I had trouble putting the pieces of the hole saw together to work with my drill. Even after I got the drill saw put together, it wasn't as simple as drilling a hole through the plastic. The plastic would heat up and grip the saw, building up a whole bunch of plastic debris that snagged it and kept it from getting a clean cut.

Finally I got all the holes drilled and the plastic punched out. It turned out in the process of punching out the holes, they didn't end up perfectly circular and my pvc pipes wouldn't fit into the holes. I had to shave pieces of plastic off the edges with a box cutter. 

Eventually I got it so that all the PVC pieces fit into the holes. Caulking did not cause too many issues. I stuck thin wooden boards under them to hold them at the correct height.

You'll notice the black tape.

The plastic tote cracked in a few places when I punch the plastic out or tried to stick the PVC into place. The black electric tape was my rainproof solution (we're out of duct tape 😅).

The final product in place. It's taking the chickens and ducks a little bit to figure out how to use it. I might need to lock the chickens up for a day to force them to practice.

This automatic chicken waterer project was the polar opposite of the feeder. It took less than 15 minutes total.

The package came with instructions: drill holes evenly spaced around the water vessel. Insert the drinking cup. Screw on a wing nut inside. Fill with water! 

It does need to be set off the ground so that the drinking cups hang down and water can flow into them. If the cups are pressed up, the water just keeps flowing. I used a big garbage can to hold the most water. Once I find my mosquito netting, I'll put that over the top to prevent bugs from getting in. Right now it is open to the elements. I did put a piece of copper pipe inside to help keep algae down. That was a Pinterest hack. We'll see if it actually works!