Horizontal nipples on containers.....would you recommend a 3.5 gallon bucket or a 5 gallon bucket?

[sueiris]

Just bought some horizontal nipples......would like to put them on buckets to start. I'm looking for some suggestions for best sizes?

 

[pdirt]

A 5 gallon bucket full of water is pretty heavy if you intend to carry it, so consider that. Also, consider your flock size. If you have much more than 15 birds, then a 5 gallon bucket may be the way to go. You'll probably have to fill it (5gal) about once a week for 15 birds, of course, depending on the temperatures. For a smaller flock, the 3.5g bucket is more manageable and holds a lot of water. I generally clean out and re-fill our bucket every 7-10 days regardless of how much water is left in it.

The last consideration is if you intend to use the nipple bucket in freezing weather (I'm assuming it freezes quite a bit in southern NJ). In that case, I would recommend the 5 gallon bucket for two reasons. 1) They actually drink almost more water in freezing weather and 2) you might want the install the nipples a bit higher. Having them installed higher will always leave some water at the bottom of the bucket, so a bigger bucket is a good idea.

For 2) - the thought is this: If it gets really cold where you are (regularly below 0F), then I would suggest instead of installing the nipples 1.5" from the bottom edge, to instead install them 2-3" from the bottom. Reason being is if you use a de-icer device, the heat rises and the water at the bottom of the bucket will be colder than the rest. Having slightly warmer water contacting the nipples (especially the metal rod) isn't going to hurt. I've read many accounts of folks using the horizontal nipples down to -15 to -25F, without issue (using a de-icer) and only one lady was having much problem but only when it got down to -15F. I don't know yet why she had issues and other folks haven't. But it doesn't often get that cold around where I live anyways, so I haven't worried about it too much.

Our set up is a 5 gallon bucket with 4 nipples (I used two nipples last winter for 27 birds) and a 250W stock tank de-icer for winter. The nipples are installed 1.5" from the bottom edge. The coldest I've recorded so far was -9F and the nipples worked like a charm. When we had 27 birds, I had to refill the bucket about every 3-4 days.

If you do use it winter, DO NOT use a submersible aquarium heater. I did so at first and nearly started a fire. These are not designed to be used outdoors and the safety shut off mechanism (at least on the one I used) is not as well designed as the one on my stock tank de-icer. The aquarium heaters are very popular here on BYC, but I don't recommend them. In addition to the fire hazard, they keep the water waaay too warm. The lowest setting is usually 65F, this just wastes a lot of electricity. The stock tank de-icer I think turns on at 32F and off at 42F.

 

[sueiris]

Pdirt, thank you so much for your detailed reply and photos...it's very helpful. Questions......what is the insulation you are using? What wattage stock tank de-icer do you have?

 

[pdirt]

The insulation is called Reflectix, basically Mylar bubble wrap. You can get it at most hardware stores. It's not necessary, but does lower the electric use a bit. I remove most of it for summer.

I use a 250w K&H stock tank deicer. Available on Amazon. I paid $35, free shipping a couple years ago. It usually goes on sale with a free shipping option in the autumn.