# Automatic waterers



## Wolf-Kim (May 17, 2010)

I have tried this on a more rabbit specific forum and have had 25 views but no responses. I figured I'd try here and test my luck.

We have a growing rabbitry and here in the NC summer these regular water bottles just aren't cutting it. Sometimes they run dry between fillings( a HUGE frustration for me) and to make fillings quick and easy we just fill a 5 gallon bucket and dip the bottles in there. But because that water sits between waterings it gets warm. The temp isn't a big issue with me as much as the supply.

When we raised quail in a rabbit enclosure we used automatic poultry waterers and we absolutely loved them. So, we are going to update our rabbits to autowaterers as well. 

Any experience? Tips? Advice?

Thanks!
-Kim


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## missy_cbell21 (May 17, 2010)

I have no experience with the auto waters, but I'm in NC and I understand about the heat. Currently I have four 32 oz bottles on my cages with mom and kits.


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## Wolf-Kim (May 18, 2010)

Yes, the heat is crazy. 

Most of our buns live in the barn in wire cages. The barn is dirt-floored with large open doors on either side. It usually stays a good bit cooler in summer, but that still tends to be pretty hot. I'm sure our NC notorious humidity doesn't help either, it makes it harder for the body to cool itself, for human and beast alike.

The buns are hot already, and it's only May. I tried frozen waterbottles, which they promptly chewed up. I will be adding a fan to the stall they are in, not blowing directly on them, but just to keep the air moving.I haven't added one yet, because the power was recently cut to the barn, it should be fixed in a few days. 

I was exploring the options for cooling rabbits and came across an idea for a mister system. The only trouble with a mister is that it must be high enough in the barn to allow the water to dissipate before it actually hits the water. The mister is actually suppose to cool the air, instead of actually getting the rabbits wet. The mister option is currently being looked into, but for now we're concentrating on upgrading cages and waterers.

-Kim


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## Citylife (May 18, 2010)

An automatic watering system will make your life easier.  By far.  I do not have one as of yet.  I have a very small project started.  The man I bought my breeders from has a system set up and it is clearly much more efficient and way less time consumming and aggravating.  As my project grows I will be adding a system.  I am researching how to keep mine from freezing as my rabbits are in an outside enclosure and it gets below zero from time to time here.  
I can see already I will need something more automatic then the bottles as the summer progresses.  They go through plenty of water now.  I can see what the summer will bring.  


the lady with 4 dogs, 4 city chickens, 4 meat rabbits, 7 kits and a lizard


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## anthonyjames (May 19, 2010)

Kim,

I use this system

http://clover.forest.net/kwcages/index.html

You can of course use a bigger bucket but it comes with a 2.5 gallon water bucket


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## Wolf-Kim (May 20, 2010)

anthonyjames said:
			
		

> Kim,
> 
> I use this system
> 
> ...


How long have you had this system?

How many cages do you have attached to it?

Any problems installing or running this system?

Did you purchase the kit or the individual componants?

Thank you so much for you help. This is going to be a big step forward for our growing rabbitry!


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## Beekissed (May 20, 2010)

I used this same system and I loved it!  The only problem with this system is keeping it thawed during the winter...I managed to keep the water in the lines thawed nicely but the nipples would freeze and the only way to avoid this was to heat the whole rabbit barn or use heat lamps directed at the nipples and rabbits prefer a lot of darkness.  

I added vinegar to the water in the bucket to keep the algae down and to give the buns a boost.  We had seven cages of rabbits on this system but you can get extra Ts, nipples and lines whenever you want to expand the system.  

As for keeping them cool, we used fans and the frozen water bottles and changed out the bottles twice a day.


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