5 gallon water bucket suspension?

[Lulu-vt]

I would like to start our new coop with water from a hanging 5 gallon lidded bucket. I already have the nipples. How do I safely hang the very heavy bucket? Is there a bracket you’d recommend to attach to a stud? Or some kind of tall crate? I just don’t want it falling or bending the bracket from the weight of the water.

 

[saysfaa]

Setting it on cement blocks would be the first thing I tried.

 

[aart]

Agrees, don't try to hang it, put it up on blocks.
Hopefully you have horizontal nipples(that go in the sides of the vessel) and not vertical ones(that go in the bottom of a vessel).
Near where you can safely run a power cord for heating in the winter.

 

[Lulu-vt]

Agrees, don't try to hang it, put it up on blocks.
Hopefully you have horizontal nipples(that go in the sides of the vessel) and not vertical ones(that go in the bottom of a vessel).
Near where you can safely run a power cord for heating in the winter.
View attachment 3916069

Currently I have the vertical nipples. They didn’t want to have to run a power cord because it would have to cross our driveway. I was hoping to come up with some plan of keeping the water from freezing without electricity. From what I’ve read, I haven’t found the answer yet. Sadly.
Anyway…I can always get the horizontal nipples but don’t have them now.
I love the board across the water container. Very smart!!

 

[aart]

I was hoping to come up with some plan of keeping the water from freezing without electricity.

Not likely, especially with vertical nipples.
Might have to go with smaller multiple waterers,
so you can swap out daily if needed for freezing.
Horizontals are much better for numerous reasons.

 

[saysfaa]

How many chickens do you have?

 

[Sefirothe]

My waterer sits on cinderblocks. But I do hang my feeders.

Go to your local hardware store and get some heavy duty j-hooks. I got straps off of Amazon, you can adjust the length to set the best height for your chickens. I use a spare carabiner to clip the handle of the bucket to the strap. Makes it easier to remove the bucket to clean or refill.

Screw the hook into a rafter in the run, set the length on the strap and clip the bucket on.

The hooks in the rafters don't show well, but I'm sure you can get the idea.

 

[Debbie292d]

Our 5-gallon nipple bucket (horizontal) is similar to how @aart has it except we use pavers and not quite as high up. (Silkies are shorter.)

 

[Ridgerunner]

I was hoping to come up with some plan of keeping the water from freezing without electricity. From what I’ve read, I haven’t found the answer yet.

My cold weather experience was in Northwest Arkansas. My temperatures were not as low as you will see but we did experience plenty of freezing nights. I had electricity to the coop but did not use it to keep water thawed. And I had a frost-free hydrant buried deep enough it never froze so I had water at the coop.

In winter I use a black rubber tub to water, I got it at Tractor Supply. Since it is rubber when it freezes just turn it over and stomp on it or slam it against the ground to knock the ice out. If you set them in the sun they will use solar heating and keep the water thawed even with the air temperature in the teens.

The sun does not shine all day every day and does not shine at all at night. So I'd have to beat it empty every morning if it got very cold at night and occasionally on a cloudy day. I set it up on a cinder block to help keep it clean and put a heavy rock in it so they could not stand on the edge and flip it over. They'd still fly/hop up there and poop in it enough that I needed to clean it regularly but cleaning the ice out every morning took care of that.

It took some work every day but the black rubber bowls kept water thawed most days so it wasn't too bad. My biggest problem was to have enough rocks to keep it from flipping for the days that stayed too cold for the ice to melt and let me reuse the rocks frozen in ice.

I don't know how well the black rubber tub would work for you in Northern Vermont, you can get and stay really cold. But maybe something to consider. Good luck!