Blown away by the amount of water needed by chicks

[KCref]

I'm new to this world and recieved my first order of 25 straight run heavys a week ago. I am setting a out 2 litres of water a day with some loss in cleaning out the waterer about 3 times a day. I am amazed by that level of water consumption by such tiny birds. It really makes me think hard about what it would take to leave for a weekend in terms of making sure the birds have plenty of water. I assume water consumption increases as the birds get older...is this true?

 

[Judy]

I can't tell you the amount, but they can drink a lot -- especially in warm weather, the consumption really goes up then. I wonder if yours aren't a bit too warm. I'd try raising the heat lamp (or whatever) and see if they still seem comfortable. If you raise it and they don't crowd under it for warmth, they were too warm. In following the guideline of 95 to 100 the first week, etc., I'm afraid many people overheat their chicks. Once they have recovered from shipping stress, after a few days, in my experience they do not need as much heat as the charts say.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I always like to have two water sources for them in the summer or if we leave for a bit so that if one fails (leaks, etc.) they have the other one (though baby chicks need to be checked on at least once per day as I am sure you know). I have read that grown chickens drink about a cup a day of water.

It might help if you have a brick around to put the waterer up on bricks or some kind of small platform. Make sure that they have room to stand on part of the brick or platform to reach the waterer. They won't be able to get to it if it is too tall. This will keep the shavings out of the water.

It is a serious problem if the waterer fills with shavings so they can't drink for much of the day- this used to happen to me, so I use two bricks and place a third brick next to it for them to stand on while drinking. Works great!

 

[KCref]

I have a plastic waterer that I am using and I have it up on a pine board 3/4 inch thick with room on both sides for chicks to stand on while drinking. This was done on day 3 and it really helped a lot. I also have two water bottles with poutry nipple caps. These have almost no waste and have worked really well.

I also thought maybe the temp was too high and I have lowered the temp to just above 90 and they seem much happier.

 

[Eggcessive]

I agree about the heat. If you ever see a broody hen hatch a bunch of chicks you will notice how they don't need a lot of heat. They stay out from under their mama hen much of the time. By now they probably could use with less heat--tweak it down to 85 and see if they are grouping up under the lamp which would mean they are cold. I agree about having multiple water sources--some waterers leak out, sometimes you don't put them together properly and they leak, and sometimes they just scratch pine savings in and drain it all out.