Free access to water for birds is a prerequisite for keeping pets. A do-it-yourself drinking bowl for pigeons must meet certain requirements. You can build structures from different materials, but you need to take into account their pros and cons in advance. Since dirty water is a source of infection, first of all, you need to think about how to keep the liquid clean.
General requirements for the device
Pigeon drinking bowls come in all shapes, closed/open, and made from various materials.However, any model must meet certain requirements:
- environmental friendliness. The material must not react with water;
- ease of use. Adding or changing water should be fairly easy;
- Priority should be given to designs that protect water from debris and bird droppings.
To provide birds with water for a long period, it is advisable to install containers with a volume of at least 10 liters.
What can it be made from?
Plastic, metal, glass - any materials can be used to make drinking bowls. When choosing materials, you need to take into account their positive and negative qualities:
- It is advisable to make a metal drinker from galvanized steel. Advantages: metal does not oxidize upon contact with water, environmental friendliness, ease of maintenance, durability, strength. Disadvantage: high cost of sheets;
- glass containers are an affordable option. Advantages of glass: environmentally friendly, easy to clean, does not come into contact with water. The downside is the fragility of the material; if handled awkwardly, it is easy to break the container;
- It’s easy to make a plastic drinking bowl from any bottle. Advantages of the material: strength, ease of use, low cost. Light weight is a disadvantage because birds can easily tip the container over.
When choosing a material, you must also take into account the cost, since for a significant number of birds one drinker is not enough.
Making a drinking bowl for pigeons with your own hands
Creating a drinking bowl does not take much time. But you can make a structure of the desired shape and volume. Birds should be comfortable to put their head down and drink, but not be able to swim in the water.
Made from galvanized iron
To manufacture the structure, you will have to spend money on a sheet of metal measuring 22x66cm. For work you will need a hammer and metal scissors. Stages of work:
- to assemble a rectangular structure, mark the edges of the drinking bowl on a sheet with the following parameters: width 6 cm, length 50 cm, wall height 8 cm;
- the sheet is bent along the intended edges, forming a rectangular shape;
- The corners of the structure are bent and fixed by tapping with a hammer.
To prevent birds from being injured, the edge of the container is folded over. You can make the container longer or shorter.
Vacuum
The design is easy to assemble, since you can use a barrel, a glass bottle, or a plastic bottle with a volume of 5-10 liters. Additionally, select dishes that will be filled with water (bowl, basin, old tray with high sides). The process of assembling the drinker is simple:
- the bottle is filled with water;
- At the bottom of flat dishes, low stands for the bottle are fixed;
- The container with water is covered with a flat dish, and the structure is turned over.
An important nuance is that birds can easily turn over an empty container, so you need to think about how to increase its stability.
Automatic drinker from a plastic bottle
A convenient option is an automatic drinker. To make the structure you will need bottles with a capacity of 2 and 5 liters, self-tapping screws, a block of wood, and a screwdriver. Build process:
- place the small lid in the large one and screw them to a wooden block with self-tapping screws;
- cut off the bottom of a five-liter bottle (leaving a “bowl” with a wall 2/3 high);
- the bowl is screwed into a large lid, a two-liter bottle is placed inside the bowl, screwed into a small lid;
- in a two-liter bottle, make a hole with a diameter of 0.5 cm below the edge of a five-liter bowl by 2-3 cm.
A two-liter bottle is filled with water, after closing the hole with a finger, and screwed on with a prefabricated lid. The bottle is inverted and the five-liter bowl is filled with water flowing out of the hole in the two-liter jar. The disadvantage of the design is the need to attach it to the base.
Heating for drinking bowls
During the frosty season, the problem of water freezing in the drinking bowl arises. Warming the water will help prevent ice from forming. A popular option is to install the container on a metal stand, which is heated from the mains. The advantage of this option is that it is easy to turn the heating on and off at the right time. The downside is the need for a source of electricity.
You can make drinking bowls for pigeons from different materials. In any case, it is important to provide conditions to maintain clean water. You also need to remember about the safety of the birds so that they do not get injured on the sharp edges of the containers.
