Chicken Fountain Automatic Waterer

1) I got the small one for Christmas and I couldn't be happier with it. It was super easy to install, and now I never have to worry about my chickens running out of water, knocking it over, getting it dirty, etc. Plus, with it hanging nearly flat on the wall, it doesn't take up valuable floor space in the run. And I feel good about supporting a small business.

2) The valve stopped working after about three weeks of use. When I emailed them about it, they said something probably got suck in it and was keeping it from shutting off and explained how to clean it out. I did what they said twice, and it is still not functioning. It just runs and overflows. They have not responded to my follow up email. They clearly don't stand behind their product at ALL. If I'd wanted a waterer that I had to check and refill, I could have spend $10, not $80. I'm extremely disappointed and very frustrated.

3) Update: The guy from the Chicken fountain emailed me yesterday after seeing this review. He seems genuinely horrified that he missed my email telling him the problem was unresolved. He sent me a prepaid shipping label and says he'll refund my money, including shipping, when I return the unit. He also offered a replacement, but I've already bought something else and I can't return it. So I can't comment on the durability of the product, but I can at least now say he stands behind it. I really do wish this had worked, because I prefer the slim design and how little room it takes up. If I ever lose my mind and get a second coop, maybe I'll try another one.

We bought $40 worth of tube insulation to put on our white water hose and the water still gets hot. My husband plans on burying the water hose but we don't have a place in the shade for the fountain so right now I've got an umbrella over it. It's very windy here on the coast of Texas so that's not a complete solution to keep it cool. I've been putting frozen bottles of water in the top but they melt really fast and need replaced. It works great, it's just the heat here that's causing us problems. It won't get cool here until November/December unless we have an early winter. I can't put the fountain in my coop due to the wood floor and I don't have the space for it. We don't have a run, our chickens free range on 1/2 acre fenced yard. I'm not disappointed in the fountain because it's working so far but my chickens need lots of cool water to drink and this has not been a good solution for us.

Update:
We put double and triple pipe insulation around the garden hose and then around the fountain. That helped and then the chickens started eating the insulation on the fountain so I wrapped the insulation on the fountain with white cloth. All that with adding a frozen water bottle each day has helped reduced the water temperature. I also keep an umbrella over it during the day. We're in the middle of a heat wave but when we get some rain and the ground gets soft, we'll bury the water hose.

We chose to replace an automatic waterer with a float valve because, while it worked, the water in the dish became dirty quickly and ultimately very nasty. We ordered the middle sized unit with 4 nipples for 12 chickens + 12 to be added in future. The order from The Chicken Fountain arrived within a week and was well packaged. Upon opening, I found all the pieces as described in the instructional video on the website. We did have to purchase the pvc glue but I can understand why that would not be included. I was impressed at the quality of the material. It is sturdy and the unit, once assembled remains sturdy. I like that the middle of the unit which holds the supply of water houses the float valve in clean water inaccessible by dirt or light. This should keep the unit in working order for a very long time. I did take a moment to cover the "cover" with duct tape to block out any light that might get through the red top cap. I did not block the hole in the top, just covered the plastic cap which appeared a little translucent. We had previously run a high quality rubber hose from the house across the yard underground so installation was as simple as removing the old and hanging the new with the included braces. Nails are even taped to the braces in case you need them. Connecting the included metal fitting hose to the bottom of the unit and then that to the rubber hose takes less than a minute. The kit even includes the rubber bands used to train your chickens. These hold the nipples open so the chickens can see the water dripping. Our aging flock just followed the drip to the ground and tried drinking from there so we took them off. They took longer than the biddies we have to catch on but now 3 days later I am confident that all 12 know where to get fresh clean water. I am expecting a lot from this waterer and I do hope it proves itself.
We also purchased a few of the 2 liter nipple caps to get a head start training our biddies who are about 4 weeks old now. They took much less time to learn and mastered it within minutes. I like that the nipples on both products are in two parts. I think if they ever did clog, it would be easy to remedy.

I haven't used the Chicken-Fountain (and it is no longer available), but took a great part of inspiration and ideas from it to build a maintenance free waterer for my Duckies.

After 2 years of hauling water for the several different founts I had for my birds, I was finally able to purchase The Chicken Fountain. I got the ten nipple fountain and installed it in my new chicken run and couldn’t be more pleased. I do have a buried water line to the fountain and it is in the shade so I don’t have any problems with the water being warm. However, frozen water bottles can be placed into the main water housing to cool the water. In addition, I have on multiple occasions unscrewed the end nipple to let the water flow thereby replacing the water that was in the fountain.

I chose to install the fountain in the middle of the run so the chickens can access BOTH sides of it. I nailed a strip of 1x6 to the fence post to hang the fountain on. I did go ahead and string some wire from the fence post to the 1x6 so they wouldn’t be tempted to roost on it. You know those crazy chickens.

To explain the heated fount hanging upside down: Since we don’t have many days (2 weeks max) cold enough to freeze the fountain, I choose to temporarily use a heated fount instead of insulating the Chicken Fountain on those few days. I installed a water cutoff to the fountain so I could stop the water and drain it if necessary.