Created a water saver for my duck brooder

[tweetysvoice]

So, everyone that owns ducks KNOWS how much they splash and waste water. It's especially bad when you have to brood the ducks in the house and are subject to cleaning the brooder daily just to keep the smell down! I did some hunting at walmart and found the perfect solution to keeping water from saturating the pine shavings within minutes of filling the water dish. Thought ya'll might like to see what I did. (I have seen something of the sort for outside pens - but it'll work for inside as well!)



I found these modular drawers at Walmart for $12. They are designed to support weight, so I knew they would support the water and a duck or two. The drawer pops out, so it'll be easy to remove to empty out the water.

First I cut a hole in the top using a hand jigsaw, then staple gunned on some hardware cloth to the top: (I put duck tape around the edges just so the hardware cloth edges weren't as sharp).



Finished product in use: It's been day 3 and working GREAT!!! No more smell in the room and dry shavings!!

 

[JustDuckyx3]

I got these plastic cocktail glasses at the dollar store. They have removable bottoms, I have a disposable tray with a cookie cooling rack on top, so what I did was put the bottom under the wire rack and attach the stem through the top. This way they are unable to knock them over, climb into them, and most importantly poop in them. They Love them because they can submerge their whole head.

 

[Amiga]

This should get some kind of award!

 

[mandelyn]

Cool idea using the drawer! I hadn't thought of that with mine. It's wood framed.

That should transition to the coop too later on. OOOoo! Design the coop to have a flap on the bottom for external access to the indoor water drawer! No moving shavings out of the way to get it!

 

[mandelyn]

I'm not a fan of the food/water mixture they make that attracts bugs, so I'm not sure I want it going to the ground right below. I even tried moving the food far away from the water, and they just run with it back to the water. LOL The drawer is handy because you can take it out into the grass and dump it in the sun, where it will dry fast. Different spot every time, no build up.

We already have a coop, but no harm in planning the next one.

 

[Yoles32]

I used the same idea as the original poster of this thread, but instead of a drawer I used a shallow plastic storage bin. I built a ramp up to it using shavings. The have no problem using it and they are only four days old. I used coated hardware cloth for the screen. Found that on Amazon.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Very clever!

Were they scared/confused at first at all?

Thanks all,
No, they actually went right to it and started drinking. The smaller two had to make a couple attempts at getting up ontop of it, but once they realized they could, they had no problems either! Something interesting though - I got up this morning and the waterer was completely empty. I think they all had fun playing in it last night and dried up the water. It probably tastes much better since there aren't tons of shavings floating in it all the time.

 

[OldGuy43]

GREAT! Going down to the shop right now. Once again hoarding pays off. I have everything I need.

 

[Clairendipitylee]

That's great! We did something similar, where I put a cookie cooling rack on top of a large, shallow tupperware and used large rubber bands to hold it in place. So much easier to keep them clean, right!?! I love ducklings, but, man, they are messy!

 

[EarlJ]

Inspired by the thread to make this:

Shallow storage tub + cookie cooling rack. I was going to use HWC, but I saw the rack walking back through the store and it fit snugly on top of the lid. Jagged on the one side because I applied too much force getting started cutting through. I think duck feet are too big to fit through anyway. Cookie rack seems really sturdy.