Automatic drinkers and feeders are useful as they reduce your work load and allows you to go away for a few days without having to get someone to come in and tend to your chickens. This page reviews the automatic drinkers and feeders I use or have used in the past.
This is a small diameter, high quality (German manufactured) drinker, suitable for up to 50 growers or 25 adult chickens. It has a maximum water head of 3 metres and comes with a built in filter and adjustable water level. It cannot be used direct on mains pressure; you must use a water header tank or a regulator to reduce the pressure. It has an in build spring at the top of the drinker. When the drinker is full of water the weight of the water compresses the spring which cuts off the water. As the chickens drink the water the weight reduces allowing water to trickle into the basin.
REVIEW
My BEC75 hanging drinker was easy to setup and involved little maintenance, just a wash and clean out of the filter every few weeks. It was also easy to see if there was a blockage in the line as the water level is clearly visible. It’s main drawback was that sparrows regularly contaminated the water with their faeces. I partially solved the problem by preventing sparrows perching above the drinker so they could not poop into the water. However my drinker was attached to a small water tank that was fed from the roof of the chicken coup, so sparrow faeces was being washed into the tank via the roof, thereby contaminating the water. I found that my chickens were suffering from regular outbreaks of Coccidiosis (a protozoal disease causing diarrhea, weight loss and decreased egg production). Though I used this drinker for many years I eventually replaced it with lubing cup drinkers, which hugely reduced outbreaks of Coccidiosis.
Though I still think it is a good drinker, but do not connect it to tank water and take extra care to ensure that sparrows can’t poop in it.
LEFT: Photo of the drinker. RIGHT: Photo of the complete kit, including the attachment to connect to a water tank or drum.
MyBEC75 hanging drinker after many years of service.
BEC75 HANGING DRINKER ADVANTAGES SUMMARY
ADVANTAGES
- Low maintenance.
- Easy to see if there is a blockage.
BEC75 HANGING DRINKER DISADVANTAGES SUMMARY
DISADVANTAGES
- Difficult to prevent contamination from sparrow faeces.
Essentially a lubing cup drinker is a mini float valve. They are suitable for supplying water to day old chicks right through to adult birds. Use one with up to 15 chicks for up to 5 weeks of age then the number of birds per cup should be reduced as the birds grow. The use of one lubing cup drinker per 5 adult chickens is recommended. It is designed to go with black threaded fittings for use in a tub that takes a tap, regulator or an offset tank.
REVIEW
They were easy to set up and have worked well since I have started using them, I have yet to have one block up. They greatly reduced the risk of sparrow faecal contamination as it is almost impossible for sparrows to poop into them. However they do have to be cleaned fairly regularly as dirt from the chickens’ beaks builds up inside the cups fairly quickly.
LEFT: My lubing cup drinkers attached to a water container; the container is low pressure but it is filled using mains water to avoid any risk of sparrow faeces contaminating the water. These two drinkers supply water for five chickens. RIGHT: Closeup of the lubing cups.
Closeup of a lubing cup. Essentially it is a mini float valve. The thread allows it to be attached to PVC or polypipe tubing.
LUBING CUP DRINKERS ADVANTAGES SUMMARY
ADVANTAGES
- Low risk of faecal contamination from sparrows.
- Easy to set up.
LUBING CUP DRINKERS DISADVANTAGES SUMMARY
DISADVANTAGES
- Have to be cleaned fairly regularly.
Nosloc feeders are an efficient, affordable feeding system that is ideal for free range poultry setups as they can be installed outdoors. They have a large spring at the base of a feed bucket that is suspended so that the spring is at about chicken head height. Pellets (you can also use grain) flows into the spring from the feed bucket. Chickens see the pellets through the gaps in the spring and pick at them, whereby the vibrations of the pecking allow some of the pellets to fall to the ground, which are then eaten.
REVIEW
The Nosloc feeder was most effective against rodents as the chickens would readily eat what had been dropped on the ground before pecking at the spring again leaving nothing for rodents to scavenge at night. Getting chickens to eat from it was easy, my chickens worked it out in minutes. In theory it was also sparrow proof as sparrows aren’t big enough to dislodge the pellets but the sparrows in my garden eventually learned to do a flying headbutt at the spring to get the pellets to drop. Though this took some years to learn, until then my Nosloc feeder was completely sparrow proof. Another drawback is that it is not suitable for mixed grains. If filled with mixed grains chickens will peck at the spring but only eat their favourite grains, leaving the more mundane ones to pileup on the ground.
However, despite these shortcomings I do recommend the Nosloc feeder, especially to keep rodents at bay. My Nosloc feeder is just in storage for the time being (July 2024), it will be used again.
LEFT: My Nosloc feeder. RIGHT: Closeup of the spring under the feeder. Chickens see the pellets through the gaps in the spring and pick at them, whereby the vibrations of the pecking allows some of the pellets to fall to the ground, which are then eaten.
NOSLOC FEEDER ADVANTAGES SUMMARY
ADVANTAGES
- Easy for chickens to learn how to use it.
- Rodent proof.
- Suitable for outdoor use.
NOSLOC FEEDER DISADVANTAGES SUMMARY
DISADVANTAGES
- Sparrows may learn how to get at the food.
- Not suitable for mixed grains.
The food in a Feed-O-Matic Step-On poultry feeder (a type of treadle feeder) is only available when chickens stand on the step plate. The feeder shutter then opens and the feed is available. This is all activated by the weight of the bird – which can be set from 250gm to 5kg. The feed chamber has space-dividers which act as an anti-spill lip to reduce feed spillage. It is made of zinc-plated panels with a glass-nylon lid and step plate.
REVIEW
Easy to setup and reasonably sturdy, while I am unsure how long the glass-nylon lid and step plate will last my step-on feeder has worked flawlessly for a number of years now. It also has a high capacity bin so it does not have to be refilled that often. Though more expensive than the Nosloc feeder it is cheaper than all metal treadle feeders on the market. While it is 100% bird proof it is however not fully rodent proof as claimed as there is some spillage as the chickens peck at the food and some of this spillage gets underneath the plate where rodents can get at it but the chickens can’t. Though further modification of the stand I built for it may remove this problem.
It was also harder to get the chickens to work out how to activate the cover but they eventually figured it out. I would definitely recommend this feeder; it is the one that I am currently using.
LEFT: My Feed-O-Matic Step-on Poultry feeder on the stand I built for better stability. RIGHT: Detail of the space dividers designed to reduce spillage.
STEP-ON POULTRY FEEDER ADVANTAGES SUMMARY
ADVANTAGES
- 100% bird proof.
- High capacity food bin.
- Cheaper than most treadle feeders on the market.
STEP-ON POULTRY FEEDER DISADVANTAGES SUMMARY
DISADVANTAGES
- Not 100% rodent proof.
- Harder to train the chickens to use it.
