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It is advisable to install drinking bowls and feeders for quails outside cells. This way, the birds will be able to eat comfortably without scattering food, plus the inside of the cage will always be clean. Feeding equipment is sold in any specialized store. But to save money, you can make it yourself. The best options are nipple drinkers for quails and bunker feeders.
Requirements for drinking bowls
A high-quality drinking bowl for quails is made from environmentally friendly materials that do not emit toxic substances. The equipment must be safe for quails and humans, and also easy to clean.
Do-it-yourself drinking bowls for quails should be comfortable for the bird during watering, and convenient for humans to maintain. For quails, it is necessary to provide free access to water, especially during the hot period. Even if the drinking bowl is installed inside a net, you need to take care of a protective fence that will prevent droppings and bedding material from getting into the water.
Making your own drinkers
The simplest are quail drinkers made from a plastic bottle, attached to the outside of the cage. To do this, place the bottle horizontally and cut out a small fragment from it. It turns out to be a kind of trough. However, in addition to primitive equipment, you can try to make more serious structures for a watering hole.
Making a nipple drinker
Now we will try to figure out how to make a nipple-type drinking bowl for quails. To work you will need a PVC pipe and a set of nipples.
The popularity of nipple drinkers is due to several factors:
- Quails that drink water always remain dry;
- the resulting kind of automatic drinking bowl relieves the owner from frequent control over the availability of water;
- nipple drinkers simplify the process of administering medicine or vitamins to quails along with water.
The manufacturing process of the nipple structure is simple:
- Take a piece of plastic pipe. One end is closed with a plug, and an adapter is placed on the other end. It will connect to a ball valve mounted on a water barrel.
- Holes are marked along the pipe in increments of 25-30 cm. To get them on the same line, it is convenient to use a HDPE pipe. It has a blue stripe on its black background.Adhering to it, you will get an even marking of the holes.
- A drill is selected according to the diameter of the nipples and holes are made in the pipe. Each nipple is screwed in with additional tape.
Now all that remains is to connect the pipe to a container of water and bring it to the cage. For better effect, you can install drop eliminators.
The video shows a drinking bowl-dispenser:
Primitive drinking bowls made from PET bottles
Instead of an open container with water, it is better to put a bottle drinker for quails in the cage, and then it is suitable not for adults, but for chicks. The young animals are very mobile, so the structure must be secured so that it does not turn over. It is ideal to hang the water bowl so that the chicks can only reach it to drink water.
Model No. 1
The photo shows a simple drawing of a drinking bowl made from two PET containers. One bottle is cut in half, and windows slightly larger than the size of a quail's head are cut out in the lower part near the bottom. There should be a side below the window. This bowl will contain water. One or more wedges are cut out on the neck of the second container, where the thread is located. Next, the bottle is turned over with the sawn-off neck down and inserted inside the cut off second half.
To draw water, you will have to constantly pull the bottle from the bottom cup. For convenience, you can cut off the bottom of an inverted container and pour water into it.
Model No. 2
The next model of a homemade drinking bowl for quails involves the manufacture of a metal bath. It can be made rectangular from galvanized sheets, food-grade aluminum or stainless steel. All joints are secured with rivets. It’s easier to choose the appropriate size tin can with a protective coating inside.
Now, following the drawing, two rings are cut out of plywood. They are fastened into one structure opposite each other. The diameter of the bottom ring is made smaller than the thickness of the PET bottle. The container should fit freely into the second upper ring. The finished frame is fixed in a cage. A bottle of water is inserted inside the rings, neck down, and a metal bath is placed under it.
Other types of drinkers
If homemade drinking bowls do not suit you, you can always purchase them in the store. Let's look at a few common models.
Vacuum drinker
This equipment can be called a half-made do-it-yourself quail drinker, since its lower part is bought in a store. The design consists of a PVC tray, with a central mount for a glass jar or plastic bottle. Screw the tray onto a container of water and turn it over. Due to the difference in atmospheric pressure, water will be added from the container to the bowl as the quail drinks it.
Automatic drinker
An automatic drinker is justified in large farms. If the number of livestock at home resembles almost quail farms, this automatic equipment will be indispensable. Water will be supplied independently to all drinking bowls as needed. The owner can only check the container occasionally and fill it if necessary.
Microcup drinkers
The microcup drinker for quails works on the principle of scales. The mechanism itself resembles the internal structure of a toilet tank float. When the cup is filled with water, it sinks to the bottom under its own weight, closing the valve through the pipe through which water is supplied. When the quail drinks from the cup, it becomes light and rises.At this time, the valve opens and a new portion of water is drawn in. Based on the principle of operation, cup drinkers for quails can be considered automatic.
Quail feeders
Making your own quail feeder is as easy as making a container for drinking water. The material can be found at home. Most often these are leftovers from construction work.
Hopper feeder
The most convenient feeders for quails are considered to be bunker type. To make it you will need a piece of galvanized profile and a sheet of plywood:
- So, for this quail feeder, the bottom tray is made from a profile. The workpiece is cut to the required length. Usually they are guided by the dimensions of the cage and the number of livestock.
- The side shelves of the bunker are cut out of plywood in the shape of a seven. After turning over, the parts will resemble a boot.
- The lower part of the inverted sevens is inserted into the sides of the profile, where they are fixed with self-tapping screws. Two rectangles are cut out of plywood, from which the front and back parts of the bunker are made.
The finished quail feeder is fixed outside the cage so that the quail only reach the tray with food.
Automatic quail feeders
In terms of its design, the automatic quail feeder is made according to the bunker analogue. The only difference is the improvement of the model by adding a dispenser, an electric drive and a timer. The automatic feeder works without human intervention, the main thing is that there is food in the bunker. The timer at the set time starts the electric drive, which opens the hopper damper. A certain amount of feed is poured into the tray through a dispenser, after which the dampers are closed again.
The video shows an automatic feeder:
Conclusion
You can make drinking bowls and feeders for quails with your own hands just as well as store-bought ones. And if you make friends with electricity and use your imagination, your inventory can even be automated.
