RentACoop DIY Sip Station Watering System Mini Kit for Poultry

Product Reviewed: RentACoop DIY Sip Station Watering System Mini Kit for $30

TL;DR; Complete outside fill kit; Good for variety of age chicks to chickens

I’m getting quite fond of the RentACoop products. They are more of a premium hobbyist bit of gear. This one is no exception. The kit includes no instructions but the listing is quite clear on the use case.

I particularly like the flange adapters in this kit that allow you to either use them as flange adapters to get either a 5/16” barb connection or 1/8” npt out of a bucket or mount pecking style or cup style waterers on any flat surface or small diameter wire mesh. The fitting requires about a 7/16” hole and includes a seal when water tight connections (e.g. a flange adapter on a bucket) but are shaped to mount to any flat surface without tools.

The other nice feature is the two different types of cup waterers. We like the look of the smaller cups for larger birds and the valve actuated water cups for smaller birds. This system will allow for a lot of time saving on morning and evening chores as the water fills from the top and the only cleaning needed is to scoop any debris out of the cups with a finger. Compared to glug glug style waterers that’s 1 minute of work vs 5 minutes so when you have multiple flocks that adds up.

The water tank has multiple ways to be mounted, hooks on a cage wire, a dedicated bracket, or a wrap around spring.... one of these will work for your setup.

I’m not sure about the insulated tubing that comes with the kit. It seems quite flexible but only winter time will tell how well it works. The thick walls worry me but so far RentACoop has never disappointed.

5 stars a little pricey but a good value nonetheless.

How I review:
Reviews start with 5 stars and I subtract points.
- 0 for value but I try to provide guidance
-0.5 to -3 for product not matching description e.g. stainless steel is actually plated steel
-0.5 to -3 for product missing badly on execution
I select products carefully so low (1-3 scores) are rare but detailed comments and critiques almost always are in the review. Most of my reviews come out 4-5 range.
If possible I dismantle or destroy items to examine inner workings.

I love that this allows you to have a versatile water set up, but we have had issues with the water dripping down fully. Once the water gets to about 1/4 full, it doesn’t pour out any more, not sure why as we have followed all directions but it wont drink out anymore.

There was no instructions, but it wasn’t too hard to figure out how to set it up. It did work with my 1/2 inch hardware cloth on the quail aviary that I’m building. The tubing is a bit harder to connect up than other tube systems I’ve had, but that is because of the insulation. It wasn’t hard enough to make it a problem, though, and the insulation may have some benefits.

All in all, pretty happy with it. I have it installed, and my quail actually found it pretty quickly! It will be nice to be able to refill their water without having to carry water into the aviary.

I think this kit can be used for the babies while in the brooder. It has great insulated tubing to keep from freezing in the cold. Came with a lot of cups, but not a lot of tubing. Excellent quality and a great starter kit for anyone who for a couple of chickens. 2 size cups.

No instructions were included with the RentACoop DIY Sip Station Watering System. Fortunately, I am no stranger to putting these sorts of things together. The quality of the materials is decent.

Some people might get confused and think the cups are meant to lie on the ground, but they're actually meant to be attached to a hutch or coop. The water will only pour out if the cups are left on the ground. Without instructions or directions, I was left to figure out how to attach the sip spouts. If this were a gift, I wouldn't have known how to piece it together or how to attach it.

Exactly as described. Works great for my coturnix quail

Love these products. Makes raising babies easier.

Great waterer. It’s nice knowing my quail have water all day until I get home. These are easy to fill and you don’t have to disturb your bird to do so. It would be nice for the water tank to be larger for these.

I use this watering system for my quail hutch. It was easy to install and the birds had no trouble figuring it out.

Works as it should

Love the concept and I really really wanted it to work… however, it’s nearly impossible to actually clean it. The tank got super dirty… slimey (algae?). In order to clean it you have to take it all apart… I nearly broke my quail hutch trying to disassemble to clean. Will not be using again. Unfortunately by the time I got it all set up and figured this out… the return window has closed so I can no longer return it.

Great product! Very easy to assemble just by looking at the the picture on the box. This has been very helpful for my quail and my young chicken in the broader box. It comes with two styles of drinker cups. The bowl shaped one with my quail would get dirty and I have to clean it out every day. When I switched to the one they have to peck to get water that issue was no more. I bought two of them because their so good.

This item works as intended. I love Rentacoop products, but I just don’t love the way that these connect. It’s bulky on the backside. It was easy to assemble and definitely served our intended purpose, but I would prefer to run PVC and drinkers over the way that this connects.

You should know. If you get one rent a coop item.. You'll probably be back for more. The versatility, options and durability (I was surprised I thought it would be cheep and have to replace yearly like so many other supplies and feeders. Nope. I can see this being used for multiple years if cared for properly. Instalation is easy. Modifications are easy. And can't beat the pricing. Definitely in my budget and works effectively. I just wish my tanks were larger (they have larger tanks. I will be upgrading. .. I just haven't got to ordering anything of the bigger sizes yet.)

One of the tubing adapters broke while we were installing it (just twisted off). We contacted them and they sent us a replacement immediately. Seriously, less than two hours after we contacted them an order had been placed for a free replacement and it shipped the next day. Really fantastic support.

The item is well designed and easy to assemble and seems to work well. Our only quibble is that the water doesn't drain out of the reservoir completely because the tubing adapter opening is above the interior bottom when installed. Having it drain completely would make cleaning easier.

Very happy; will buy this company's products again.

I typically hate the cheap-o plastic stuff, but this system works surprisingly well. I like the fact that they used brass (less likely to break under water pressure.

My quail prefer the cups over the other nozzle, but they're harder to clean. With the tubing instead of PVC, this style of kit is a lot more flexible and moveable than this company's other watering system. No issues with installation.

Durable, works great, super 3asy install, no leaks, good size for our grow out pen.

This watering system is good for a couple of chickens but I recommend hooking a 5 gallon bucket up instead of the small water container that it comes with. I have 8 chickens and the water container is too small to keep them all hydrated. This watering system is very easy to install though. I have used and have many of the Rent A Coop Products and I'm honestly happy with all of them. Even though sometimes I have to modify or upgrade like hooking their products up to a 5 gallon bucket etc....

We are very pleased with the DIY Sip Station components and set-up, and have found it easy to set up and adapt to our particular needs. It's also easy to take apart and re-install when cleaning. Some of the tubing came loose the other day when a pullet tried roosting on the tubing, and my fourteen year-old was able to put it back together again without any issues. We're hoping to DIY a larger set-up in the future, using our own rainwater harvesting/filtration design, and this is a really good way to work up to that point. Our pullets are especially fond of having such easy access to clean, fresh water.

This works very well and the parts are all high quality. I especially like the insulated tubing (which is 5/16" ID), it is very durable. It fits on the barb fittings very securely with no leaking at all. It's very easy to set up- the hardest part is getting the tubing on the barb stems. Which I didn't mind, it meant it wouldn't be falling off later!

There is an inaccuracy in the title of the product, it states it comes with brass "nozzles" and metal auto-fill cups, which it does not. This kit has plastic horizontal nipple drinkers with metal peck stems and plastic auto-fill cups, as shown in the pictures. The company does sell a metal version, this just isn't it.

I don't really like that they use the same connector to go in the reservoir that is used for the drinker connection. It makes the stem way too long- when the water level is below an inch it can no longer flow to the drinkers! I have thought about cutting that down so it's not so ridiculous. They should definitely have a specialty bulkhead fitting for the source container.

I would say this is somewhat expensive for what it is, BUT it is pretty high quality. I would not use it for rabbits like I did however. They pull the plastic cup insert out constantly to play with it and chew all the plastic up. This is aimed at poultry though, so I didn't dock any stars for that- just figured I'd give others the heads up! I can still use most of the system, I just had to install different drinkers.

As mentioned in the title, the cup portion on the product I got was a good quality metal. Yay! This improves the function of the product for me, much stronger than the typical plastic cups! Strong sipping cup mechanism means you can use this one for ducks and geese too! It was easy to install, a nice value and can fit a variety of coops. I'd really love it , if this could come with a 2-3 gallon tank though, as I'd love to use it for a pair of geese.