6 Automatic Chicken Waterers That Are Pure Genius

It’s really important to make sure your backyard chickens have constant access to clean water – and it’s easy to do with an automatic waterer.

You can buy one, or make one yourself. It takes just a few minutes!

(I have a full tutorial here. It cost me $12 to make this waterer, but a reader recently told me she did it all for free. Better than spending $50 on Amazon for essentially the same thing!)

Here’s a collection of DIY chicken waterers we found on Instagram – they look pretty easy to make, too!

Automatic waterer out of an old barrel

This one looks pretty easy to make. Some nipples, a drill with the right bit, and you’re good to go. Just make sure if you buy a used barrel, it only contained food and is food-safe.

We use barrels in this DIY horse feeder tutorial – they previously had coffee in them.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkWE6OGgrcv/?tagged=chickenwater

Use PVC for easy install

This waterer uses PVC. You can’t see the rig outside the coop, but if you had a rain barrel outside the coop, then the waterer could stay full by gravity.

The set up below should only cost a few dollars to make – PVC is pretty cheap. Something else to consider is keeping it unfrozen during the winter. It will either have to be insulated or you can try PEX.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbusvbzBK7G/?tagged=chickenwaterer

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDVygepqQd4/?tagged=chickenwaterer

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgmKU0Ehwr2/?tagged=chickenwaterer

Add nipples to a 5 gallon bucket

My tutorial up there uses a dish as the bottom of the waterer, but you can also try hanging the bucket. This one looks easy to build – you would just need the nipples and a drill, and a sturdy place to hang the waterer.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkDkS4QlBWp/?tagged=chickenwaterer