can't teach year old chickens new tricks??????

[BoostPsi]

I hope this is the proper forum for this question...it was the best match I could find

I have five chickens...three Easter Eggers, one Bantam and one Andalusian which are all just over a year old. I am trying to minimize the daily labor involved in caring for them.... I have the feeding part figured out, its the water for them that is frustrating me... I have always given them water with either clear tubs and or a 1gallon ish container with the red base that keeps refilling...... my problem is they kick dirt into EVERYTHING creating horrible looking water making us change the water two or sometimes three times a day.....maybe brown water isn't too bad for them I don't know but I wouldn't want to drink it so I don't expect them to


being creative I bought some of the chicken watering things you find all over ebay and elsewhere online.... black fittings, red/orange cups and yellow rod in the center that lets water come out when moved........ put a five gallon bucket on the back of the coop....made a nice pvc 5 station watering station that mounts between the coop and the run....drinking heaven if I was a chicken

now this is where my problem begins.... I can manually flick the yellow things filling the cups with water(while the birds watch)...they'll drink anything in the cups but they just DON'T figure out the part that if they peck at the yellow part the cups will refill on their own with fresh clean water......I'm $40 ish into the whole system which isn't an issue.... does anyone have tips how I can teach them to use it?? I assume other birds do or they probably wouldn't sell many of those parts but who knows

any help on getting them to use it would be greatly appreciated...

if I need to post pictures I will but I assume most people know exactly what watering parts I am talking about, they seem to be on sale everywhere

 

[GitaBooks]

Try putting a yummy, sticky treat on it. They will peck at it and hopefully learn, as I hear birds take to such things pretty easily. Make sure they have other water available until they do get the hang of it.

Best of luck!

 

[BoostPsi]

that's a great idea....I built the watering system months ago and have been so frustrated that they don't use it I've been about to throw the whole thing on craigslist for $20

treats usually work....at least with our cats.........the jury is still out whether or not chickens are the dumbest creature on the planet but I'll figure out some kind of reward system.....maybe I just gave up too fast


anyone else?

 

[Mrs. K]

Actually, I set this up with much older birds, but it was recommended to take all water out. I did, and I sat down there, and sure enough, pretty soon, all of my birds have gotten a drink out of it.

The other methods waste so much water, that it appears that they are going through it faster. With the nipple system, they go through much less water, as so little is wasted. So maybe they are drinking from there.

A couple of problems is that while the water lasts longer in there, it becomes stale, and something green was growing in the bottom of the bucket, so I think you need to change it completely out every few days. Or maybe I need a darker lid.

And in the winter, they will freeze up, unless your are in pretty mild weather, and use a heater.

As for my two cents on feed 24/7 sometimes that can really draw rodents, so beware of that.

Mrs K

 

[centrarchid]

I use live meal worms as a training tool.

Hens also get smarter while coming into lay and while broody.

 

[aart]

The cups are great, but I've found the horizontal nipples to be much better than anything else for several reasons.....
......mainly they can be put in a heated vessel and work all during my extreme winters too.
They can be put into almost any container, from tiny pint bottles for caged birds to 3 gallon jugs for the main flock.

Nipple and/or Cup waterer training can be challenging indeed.
I've had 2 day old chicks figure it out in a couple hours and older birds taking much longer to 'get it'.

You do need to remove all other water sources, and this should not be done during extreme heat or cold as you don't want to risk dehydration.
Just keep tapping the button and eventually they'll get it, could take an hour, could take a week.

Sometimes grabbing their head and tapping the button with their beak works, sometimes it just freaks them out.
Patience and perseverance, like other thing with chickens, is definitely needed with the nipple waterer 'training'.