|
GRAVITY FLOW WATER
FOR LIVESTOCK AND FOWL
It wasn't too many years ago that a presidential
campaign slogan was "A chicken in every pot." The way things are
going with the economy now, it could be a catch phrase again!
Building a hen house plus an outside chicken pen
for a dozen or so laying hens requires little work, once set up
properly. Order baby chicks from a feed and seed store at any time
from early spring to mid summer. If ordered early, by October the
family will be eating fresh pullet eggs. The following spring the
chickens will be laying full sized eggs in an adequate supply for
your family plus extra to sell or trade: an excellent hedge against
an uncertain future.
It is relatively easy to store grain and set up
a gravity flow water system so if the power goes out or the feed
store doesn't get deliveries of grain, life for the chickens will
go on without a hitch. The main problems to prepare for are a reliable
source of gravity flow water and a good supply of stored grains.
WATER: Self-filling water bowl are available for
chickens, costing about $40 each. These automatically fill a little
bowl which holds a couple of cups of water - good for less than
half a day for a decent - sized flock in cool weather, and an hour
or so in hot weather. The waterers have a half
inch pipe thread connection, and most people simply set them up
to fill from the normal pressure water source. If the electricity
fails (for those on wells) or the water is no longer delivered by
an outside source, those little waterers don't work. But the waterer
doesn't need pressure to operate: they work on the principle of
the weight of the water lowering the bowl against a spring and closing
off a valve. As chickens drink the water, the little bowl gets lighter
and rises up, and water flows in to refill the bowl.
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/automatic_water_bowls.html
The answer is to set up the automatic waterers
on a water tank, so they fill by gravity and will work without any
outside assistance as long as there is water in the tank. Old water
heaters that develop a leak are thrown away, yet they are perfect
for this use. A leak at 60 psi is not much of a leak at all with
no pressure, and it is possible to use an automotive radiator epoxy
to seal a small hole in the tank. The tank should be elevated on
blocks to a height of about 18 inches. Then a short piece of garden
hose (about 6") can connect to the bottom drain tap on the tank,
and with a 3/4" garden hose to ½" N.P.T. female adapter, the bowl
can be connected to the tank and still clear the ground by about
4 inches. The intake fittings on hot water tanks are 3/4", so the
tank can be filled with a standard garden hose from any source --
even from a roof gutter system through a filter! These parts are
available now, but next year?
The system described above works. I have two of
them, one inside the chicken house and one in their outside pen.
The tanks have enough capacity to last for about a month before
they need refilling. Of course in freezing conditions the outside automatic waterer should be removed to avoid damage. In that event, I put
a plastic tray below the tank hose and let it drip slowly into the
tray, which not only prevents the tank from freezing but also ensures
the chickens have a supply of fresh water.
With a gravity flow water system such as described
above, power outages or disruptions in the water flow are simply
not a concern even in good times. And this system can easily be
adapted for automatic dog waterers, stock tanks, etc, so all domestic
animals can have an assured supply of water no mater what happens.
In the event of a terrorist EMP attack takes out the power grid,
this gravity flow system could be a life saver. Those on a
well would only have to run their generator to power the well pump
once a month to keep their poultry water tank filled, and in the
rainy season, the tank could be filled with rain gutter water run
through a filter system.
Note: The gravity flow system is not entirely
trouble free. There should be a fine screen stainless steel filter
put in the water hose connection directly above the automatic water
bowl. These screens are available in many hardware stores, as they
are used for filtering water being directed to drip irrigation
systems. The other problem is the valve on the automatic float
valve. It is a standard tire inner tube valve. Galvanic corrosion
will "rust" the valve in place, then when it breaks it cannot be
replaced, so the entire unit has to be replaced. If the inner tube
valve is replaced once a year, galvanic corrosion does not become
severe enough to bind the valve threads, and the inexpensive valve
can be easily replaced.
GRAIN: It is possible to store grains for chickens
in 55 gallon drums that have a removable lid. Each barrel will hold
in excess of 350 pounds of wheat, or about 300 pounds of corn. If
you grind your own feed, the usual percentage to use is about 1
cup of corn and 4 cups of wheat. Because of this percentage, I have
4 of the drums full of wheat and 1 of corn. If you don't grind your
own fresh grain, then stockpile chicken scratch. I prefer freshly
ground grains, but most people get along just fine with plain old
scratch. The grain in the drums can be preserved by using the carbide
trick, or with dry ice. Freezing also preserves the grain, but that
would require using 5 gallon buckets, then pouring the grain into
the barrels, over and over again, as wrestling a 55 gallon drum
into a freezer might prove difficult.
BACK
|
