My husband got me one of your
DIY kits for
Christmas (with strong hints on my part).  I was hoping it would
cut down on my morning chores and eliminate the messy water clean
up.  I must say it exceeded expectations. 



Dan set me up with two 2
gallon buckets.  One has 3 of the nipples and the other (yet to be
used – saving it for summer) with 2.  The one in use is suspended
from a top beam in our mobile coop with two pieces of chain. 



Cleaning is almost non
existent.  I take the bucket down every few days for a complete
refill.   Daily fill up consists of using a narrow spout
watering can to replenish as necessary.  The coop is dry and the
hens have access to water 24/7. 



Once the cold weather
hit us I did need to devise a way to keep the waterer from
freezing.  My method is so simple it’s ridiculous.  I had Dan
enlarge the hole in the lid so it would be big enough to fit an
electrical plug though it.  Then I threaded the cord of a
submersible bird
bath deicer up thru the lid, plugged it into the electrical outlet in
the coop and, viola, problem solved!  I have multiple hooks on the
suspension beam so when it’s time to clean, I just unplug the deicer
and hang it from one of the other hooks.



I do love your
product!   My chickens learned to use the nipples within 5
minutes and it has made my chicken raising experience much more
pleasant!! Thanks for making this great device available.  
Don’t know what I’d do if I had to go back to scrubbing a traditional
waterer.



— Betsy Beach



This
is one of the great entries that have been pouring in for our homemade,
heated chicken waterer contest. 
You’ve still got time to enter, so put on those thinking caps and pull
out your camera!

One gentleman at the Tractor
Supply Animal Swap
was selling these stand-alone nest boxes for $25 apiece.  We would
have gotten one, since our chickens currently lay in a milk crate
sitting on the floor of the coop, but we couldn’t fit it into our car
along with our
new hens.



Having a designated nest
box can make eggs cleaner, and might even help a hen go
broody.  In a
perfect world, you want one nest box for every five hens, although I’ve
noticed that our girls all like to use the same spot even though
there’s closer to a dozen of them and they have other options.



Any dark, enclosed space
about 15 inches by 15 inches by 12 inches will work.  Just add a
lip to the front, fill the nest box up with straw, and your hens will
mash down the bedding into a cupped shape.  If you notice manure
in the nest, you can block the box off at night so chickens aren’t
tempted to sleep there.



I’m holding out for a fancy
new coop with an
external nest box, so we probably won’t upgrade our nesting arrangement
right away.  But if we don’t put the new coop on the list before
spring, we may go ahead and cobble together a better nesting
arrangement, hoping to tempt one of our hens to set.