Making the Plastic Bucket Poultry and Bird Waterer

The following pictorial is how to make a poultry, gamebird or songbird waterer from a plastic bucket, lid and oil pan. You can use a rubber pan or a larger planter saucer instead of an oil pan if you like. We use these not only for poultry waterers but place them inside our feed pens at the ranch so that quail, dove and songbirds can get a drink when they come to the feeders. Other small animals an even deer can drink from them. If you use them for other than poultry be sure an place a big rock on the bucket to keep varmints from turning them over and spilling out the water. My pan is 3 ¾ inches deep so I drilled two ½ inch holes in each side of the bucket 2 ½ inches down from the top of the bucket lid. This will allow the water to come out of the bucket when turned upside down in the pan and not let air in. Make sure the holes will not be higher than the sides of the pan you are using when the bucket sits upside down in the pan.

Fill bucket until water reaches the holes you drilled.

Put lid on the bucket and turn upside down in the water pan. The water will run out into the pan until it reaches the level of the holes in the bucket. As the chickens drink water more will run out as needed.