Anyone else have issues with plastic waterer not locking?

[gale65]

I have a waterer that fills from the top. It's plastic and 3 gallons. I had a 1 gallon waterer that I had to fill and flip and I hated that. I can't imagine doing it with a big huge waterer. Back when I had chickens before (20 yrs ago) I used a metal waterer and it also filled from the top, but was hard to close.

 

[justbugged]

I have been there done this.

I use this style of waterer in the brooder pen. Somehow when flipping it over the bottom of the waterer is getting twisted the wrong way. So I would practice flipping it over and over again with a bit less water, until you are sure that it won't come apart.

For me it is very important, to have a auto-water set up. The auto waterer was about 32.00 dollars at the local feed store. We hooked it up to a garden hose. It works great until things really freeze then I have carry water in the flip over style of wateres. I may look for a small heater for the auto water this year. I think I will see if I can find a very small aquarium heater, or something designed for a stock tank. There must be away to keep it from freezing completely. The garden hose is now encased under a concrete patio. So my hose probably will not freeze anymore.

The other thing we have to keep thawed around here is the Hummingbird feeder. The cranky little birds are no longer migrating for the winter. So as much as the little bugger scares me, I feel the need to keep him well fed year around now. DH figured out how to hang a lamp under the feeder that keeps the tray of the Hummingbird feeder thawed, even when temperatures dip well past freezing.

 

[Tumbleweed Farm]

I won't use them anymore because of this spilling problem. I hate them!

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

I use a metal waterer as my main source and use a plastic one for hot days or when we're going out of town and I want two sources of water for the hens.

With mine, you slide the base on and it easily goes on about a half an inch. Then you have to really grab on to the water reservoir and TWIST the base until it slides another inch and a half so that ultimately two inches is now locked into the base.

Then flip. Otherwise, the base can come off like you describe. Try it when it's empty as it's much easier to get a feel for it.