Little Giant - 3 Gallon Plastic Poultry Waterer - PPF3

I bought one for my meat birds and liked it, so I bought another for my hens. So far so good.
I think it's easy to take the base/tray off to clean; a bottle brush gets in all the little nooks and crannies. The hole in top is large enough to get inside to clean. I haven't had any trouble with the top being too tight/hard to remove (except the one time my husband screwed it on WAY too tight...) I like that the spout has a little cap so the water doesn't leak out when I carry it around. Yeah, it's a little heavy; but that's to be expected as it's 3 gallons. When we move the birds farther away for their ranging, I might have to put both waterers in the wheel barrow to move them when full. We haven't tried to hang them yet (and after reading some of the reviews, we might not). We just have them sitting on half-sized cinder blocks and that seems to work fine. The place where I got them from has replacement O-rings and caps , which is nice if I ever need them...

I have 2 of them and they are the easiest i have found so far. The hens seem to like it and It don't Leak that much. Definitely recommend this product.

I hate this waterer, overly complicated and never works right. Too hard to clean as well.

I have one of these, and so far the original black lid and a replacement lid have broken. The first lasted about a month and a half before cracking, the second lasted about four days. Needless to say, the vacuum does not work well when there is a crack in the lid.

I knew I had to level this waterer, but when I first placed it in the run, I relied on eyeballing the water surface for levelness. This was not good enough-- I had to get out the spirit bubble level and place blocks and a plywood pedestal to level it in their run.

I sort of expected that I would be removing the red base when refilling and cleaning, but since it is so difficult to get the jug out of the base, I end up just hosing the whole thing out, and not worrying about dirt under the water jug.

At first I had a hard time removing and tightening the lid, but just started assuming if I lined the handle up like it said, it should seal. This part I think I have the hang of, and if the lid isn't cracked and it's level, it seems to work.

It does hold a lot of water, so I don't have to refill that often. But three gallons is about 25 pounds. I started out carrying this waterer by the lid handle, but have since switched to carrying it like a box, from underneath, supporting the whole thing. I can't be wearing my work clothes when I do this, because I have to hug it to my body. But it's probably better ergonomically anyway, and maybe better on the lid.

It takes up a bit of space in my narrow run, but I have bantam chickens, so they don't seem to mind.

I bought two of these when my chicks outgrew their small waterers. Cracked the lid on one of them after about 3-4 weeks. The other lasted 3 months before the lid cracked and broke off completely. I followed the directions to lube the gasket and not to overtighten the lids. They were still difficult to remove every time. Would not buy again.

I've been using this one for about 3 weeks now and have had a few times where I didn't have the lid on just right and it leaked all 3 gallons out. It is easy to clean. And I can carry it without water sloshing out. Even though it said under the cap to tighten it up all the way, then loosen it a quarter turn (or something like that), when I do that it'll leak. I tighten it up all the way and it won't leak. I do have trouble getting the lid unscrewed sometimes which drives me crazy. I haven't decided if I like the old style metal waterers better or not, but it's doing the trick for now. It was a little expensive in my opinion, but they all are.


****ok. I'm lowering my rating!! After a couple weeks more using it, I do not like it at all. I have to stand on the bottom tray when I unscrew the lid or else the entire water jug turns, not just the lid. The lid is a BEAST to get off. It doesn't leak anymore, and it is easy to carry when full, but the LID ruins it completely. I hate that I spent so much money on this thing and wish I'd bought a regular old metal chicken waterer. ****

We have been using the 3 Gallon Little Giant unit for about a year and a half. Our local co-op got these in for us at a bulk price. The lady we deal with at the co-op told us we really needed to hang these. And the way she showed us to do it was with a loop of rope at each side of the handle so that it was balanced and level.

So we did what she suggested. Basically we keep them about 6 inches off the ground for pheasants, turkey, and chickens. For our quail, we set them approximately 2 inches off the ground. The reason you get them off the ground is so the birds don't perch, poop, walk, or scratch in them. We run them in 28 pens.

They have to be cleaned during the summer months every other day. Like everything else in the sun, algae will build up naturally and quickly if you don't. Ours are torn down completely (caps, base, water unit) and scrubbed with a bit of apple cider vinegar and clear water using a scrub brush and bottle brush (for the little hole) like you would for dishes. It takes my farm hand about 2 hours a day to feed and water and clean.

In my opinion there is no downside to the product. They are really beefy, well made, hold together fine, and we've had a zero failure rate. In this business, that's about as much as you as ask for at a reasonable price.

This and the 5 gallon version of this product are more disappointing products from Little Giant.

I had to modify the handles on these to get them to hang straight enough to not leak (I attached a U-Bolt with an extra crossbar perpendicular to each handle, bolted it on very tight, and hang it from that).

I have a hard time getting the screw tops off of these waterers. I also have a hard time getting the screw tops back on and tightened to the correct position so they don't leak. The men around here don't have as much trouble with these two things as I do.

I have a hard time snapping the red base off the watering vessel for cleaning.

Because this is a plastic waterer, it seems to get slimy very quickly, and getting the slime out of the nooks and crannies is very difficult. I attack mine with a variety of cloths, scrubbing pads, bottle brushes and tooth brushes to get them clean enough for my satisfaction, and find myself repeating this task daily during the warmer months. A crevice-free design would go a long way to making this product less of a headache.

In the end we decided this is not the waterer for us except for occasional use.

I have had 3 of these, two of them have had cracks in the black screw on cap.
One had a hairline crack that was there when I bought it. another cracked over time around the top edge, if there's a crack in the top
you won't be able to maintain the vacuum seal on these waterers.
If you over tighten the black screw cap or try to carry a full waterer around by the handle be warned you may crack the cap.

Have used one for a few years now.

Pros
- Large enough were if I am gone for a weekend my chickens have enough water, also small enough were I don't think I am wasting water when changing it out for fresh water.
- light weight and not heavy like the metal ones
- in winter I take the red ring off and put in a hog pan. I put a water heater in, and a couple bricks to elevate the water container so there is a higher water level in the hog pan. water stays unfrozen for the winter months.
- was using a 100 gallon trough before with a place at the bottom to drink, but it was too hard to keep clean.

Cons
- Little spendy for some plastci
- You will eventually lose the little cap you put on the bottom when filling, so be ready to jerry rigg a cap
- If you don't screw on the top just right it will slowly leak out making a mess

I used this waterer for a while. Read many complaints on the o ring not working right - I never had that issue.
The big issue I did have was that you had to really watch how tight you made the seal. Too tight and the tray would be too low, too loose and you have a flooded coop.
The unit is easy to clean once you get if off the base. Getting it of the base was always a huge struggle for me.
I have a small coop and it took up too much floor space.
Like that it is plastic so I can use ACV in the water.
Didnt hang well so I set it up on cinder block and it was a-ok.
I still use it out in the tractor or when the girls free range.
I got tired of a flooded coop so switched my coop waterer to a 2.5 gallon dog waterer - works better and so much easier.

I don't move mine much. I set them on a cinder block in the pen and fill it in place with the hose. It will get green if I forget the ACV too often. It is pretty easy to clean since you can get your whole arm in with a scrub brush and the pan comes off to clean too. The lid can be hard to get off, I barely tighten it and it still sticks. I would not want to move any large waterer around after I filled it. I like that it is easy to see the water level, we have to fill them every other day in the summer anyway but it will last nearly a week in the winter.
They are easy to move when they are empty, Lol

Sure, it holds a lot of water... it does it's basic job just fine... And, It is tough...
(I know this to be true because I have thrown this thing across my yard several times in anger and it did not break.)

Also, to it's credit...
It is useful in the coldest of weather because it resists freezing and can hold hot water.
an it is useful for putting ice and poultry "Gatoraid" inside when the weather gets extreamly hot too..

but you have to haul that heavy thing around too!
The lid was so hard to remove, that I actually had a 2 foot long dowl rod perminantly placed next to my hose just to shove it into the handle to Screw off the lid while holding the bottle still with my knees!
Then there is the slime it produces as your chickens lick at it and kick stuff into it...
and the sloshing of that slime on you as you move it to refill it... yuk...

I became sick of dragging this thing around our yard,
and ended up devising and building a rain water fed, automatic chicken waterer.

Now this thing just sits in the shed collecting dust,
waiting for only the blazing hottest weather or freezing winter days to be used.
(that is the only reason I kept it)

When you too get sick of dragging this thing around,
here the link with the directios to make your own automatic chicken fountain:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...tic-rain-water-drinking-center-tons-of-photos

A nice waterer! Perfect for all chickens! (Just not baby chicks they could step in and drown) The little cap went missing one time, I supposed they should come with extras, just in case. It keeps my flock of 8 large fowl layers full with water for about 3 days.

I really like this waterer. It works well and holds up to everyday use. Easy to clean and refill. It has a large capacity, so you do not have to refill as often. I would recommend this.

Be sure to keep the O-ring in the lid lubricated with vegetable oil! I sometimes have to place my toes on the red water dish and twist very hard to get the lid off. The 3 gallon is much easier to handle than the 5 gallon waterer of the same style.