Will my girls eventually drink if water is available?

[Ballerina Bird]

My ladies' horizontal nipple waterer broke yesterday, and I have to wait 24 hours for the sealant to dry where I patched it (lesson learned -- I will always have two leak-free waterers on hand at any time from now on). So they will go for more than a day without their regular waterer. It will be in the mid-80s today where I live. In the meantime, I have placed a trough waterer and also a waterer that attaches to the wall in their run. But they seem very uninterested. Usually they wake up and have a big drink, but today they ignored the waterers. In fact, when I let them out to free range, they found their old waterer sitting out and curing, and they tried to peck at that instead, poor things. I tried to sit with them with a bowl and cup of water and coax them to drink, but they didn't want to do that either. I poured some water on the ground and they had a little of that; they also ate a lot of chard and other greens that I had just watered. I am hoping that by this evening the patched waterer will be operational again, and I can use it while I am making them a new one (or rather, two...). But in the meantime I am worried that they won't twig to the fact that they need to drink, even when there is water in front of them. Is this silly of me, or this is the kind of thing that chickens might do? They're just always scared of anything new.

 

[justplainbatty]

My ladies' horizontal nipple waterer broke yesterday, and I have to wait 24 hours for the sealant to dry where I patched it (lesson learned -- I will always have two leak-free waterers on hand at any time from now on). So they will go for more than a day without their regular waterer. It will be in the mid-80s today where I live. In the meantime, I have placed a trough waterer and also a waterer that attaches to the wall in their run. But they seem very uninterested. Usually they wake up and have a big drink, but today they ignored the waterers. In fact, when I let them out to free range, they found their old waterer sitting out and curing, and they tried to peck at that instead, poor things. I tried to sit with them with a bowl and cup of water and coax them to drink, but they didn't want to do that either. I poured some water on the ground and they had a little of that; they also ate a lot of chard and other greens that I had just watered. I am hoping that by this evening the patched waterer will be operational again, and I can use it while I am making them a new one (or rather, two...). But in the meantime I am worried that they won't twig to the fact that they need to drink, even when there is water in front of them. Is this silly of me, or this is the kind of thing that chickens might do? They're just always scared of anything new.

When they get thirsty, they will drink whatever is available. It's true, they are in a habit and don't like change but, they will drink when they need to. Put out a container they can't tip like a no tip dog bowl. Peck at it with your finger to mimic the sound they might make using it. They'll get the idea.

 

[Ballerina Bird]

Thank you! I just saw one drinking from the trough, so that's good.

 

[bdjh]

Just like kids.....if they're thirsty, they'll drink. If they're hungry, they'll eat. If you change something, they'll figure it out quickly.

 

[Ballerina Bird]

Just like kids.....if they're thirsty, they'll drink. If they're hungry, they'll eat. If you change something, they'll figure it out quickly.

Thanks! They seem fine now. I think I have managed to fix their regular waterer, and I put it back in the run this morning, but they didn't stampede for it or anything, so they must not have been that thirsty after yesterday, suggesting that they worked things out just as you say.