I guess every type of waterer has its issues. Sometimes i wonder if the manufacturers really field test thier products before marketing them. I love my chicks and want to make sure they have an unlimited supply of clean fresh water, even when i am away. I was enticed to buy the low red and white waterers marketed by GQF. The style and concept seemed to be just what i was looking for, and with a few trial and errors i have managed to make them work just fine, but here are a couple of issues to consider if you choose to use them. First of all one of the first issues i found was that while great for access for newly hatched chicks, as the chicks grow you need to raise the units up in time or they scratch litter and food into them, fouling the water. I fill the water trough with dollar store marnles for the chicks so no drowning can occur. My 6-8 week old birds are drinking out of these units that have been raised up 1 1/2" on disc blocks cut to the same size as the unit diameter. The next thing i have noticed is that the "tee" connectors for the supply hoses are a perfect perch for the birds, and being such , the birds perch there and poop in the water. I have overcome this problem by creating tube shaped towers the diameter of the units, i fastened them to the wood blocks below the units as they are set up, and i cut 2" wide x3" high openings at the rim height so the birds can stick thier heads into the openings which are all around the diameter and drink clean poop free water. Using these improvements things have worked out well. I was able to take an emergency trip away and was gone for a week and the five gallon buckets supplied clean water the entire time. I hook each of these fountains to its own 5 gallon bucket and hang the buckets high, the gravity water feed works well and i do not find that i need the regulator that the manufacturer recommends when you are hooking this up as a system connected to the house water supply. I would be interested in hearing from others as to how they are using these units or other type auto watering systems.
