Lu Ann Shank did such a
good job of describing her homemade, heated bucket waterer that I'm
just copying her email and photos below:
Our
flock belongs to my 13-year old son, Christian. As part
of his 4H project he raises and shows several breeds of large fowl. At
one of
the poultry shows an acquaintance gave him a few of your nipples to
try. We
went home and put a bucket waterer together and have been thrilled with
the
result.
I
saw your request
for winter-waterers and thought
I would
share what has worked for us. As a disclaimer – we live in North Texas
– I can
hear those flock owners from up-north cackling already – we are
fortunate to only get snaps of
cold temperatures here that do not linger – So far this waterer has
functioned for us without complaint. The idea is simple enough and
could be easily modified by your creative readers in colder climates.
Here is what we used:
2 5-gallon buckets
1 15’ pipe heating cable
2 Fender Washers
Caulk
Epoxy
I
started with our original bucket waterer. It is the black
bucket in the photos. I chose black to discourage algae growth. Before
I began
to modify the bucket I reinforced the handles with fender washers and
epoxy to
compensate 
for the additional weight.
Starting
at the bottom of the black bucket, I wrapped the
heat cable around the bottom third of the bucket. Make sure that the
cable lies
flat and does not cross itself.
Remove
the handle from the second (white) bucket. Cut out the
bottom of the bucket and drill a hole in the side of the bucket about
two
thirds of the way up from the bottom.
As you slide the black bucket into the white
bucket thread the plug and thermostat of the heat cable through
the hole in the white bucket. Twist the black bucket as you slide it
into place to take up
any slack in the heat cable. Before you push the buckets into
their final position - run a bead of caulk near the top of the black
bucket. This will adhere the two buckets together.
Flip the buckets over. Run a
bead of caulk between
the bottom of the black bucket and the inside lip of the white bucket
to keep curious hens from pecking at the cable.
Let
it dry and plug it in.
The
"lip" created by the white bucket protects the nipples
from the wind and - so far - has kept them from freezing. The added
benefit is that
my son can now set the bucket flat on the ground to clean it without
damaging
the nipples.
The only other
modification that I made was to
add a PVC elbow to the lid making it easier for my son to fill without
removing the lid. I also put a wire plant basket on top to keep the
girls from perching
on top.
We recommend our 3 pack
DIY kit for making a
heated waterer for up to 50 chickens. The CD that comes with each
kit includes complete instructions to help you build our favorite
heated options without any trial and error.
The heated waterer
we use in our own coop requires two buckets, a
three foot length of pipe heating cable ($23), and the contents of
our kit. With a layer of chicken-friendly
insulation, the
waterer is good down into the teens.
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I tried making thiis watererwith two identical "True Value" buckets but once I installed the heat tape it was next to impossible to get the one bucket inside the other bucket. I'm gonna try again with a different outside bucket.
We actually had a similar problem with the Lowes buckets we used last week. I'll post the full photo tutorial on our blog in a week or two, but here are the steps we took to make it easier:
With the lowes bucket, at least, we had to cut the outer bucket down more than is shown in this post.
We made the cord come out a slit in the bottom rather than a hole near the top.
We only used a three foot length of heat tape that wrapped around the bottom of the bucket once.
Using those changes, our buckets went together quite well.