Clean Water? what does it mean?

[RubelliteRose]

We use rubber feed pans for water and it is changed daily. Not only to clean out any litter kicked in each day, but also because we can have mosquitoes year round. It has been so warm this winter, we've already had 2 mosquito outbreaks this month

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

We use rubber feed pans for water and it is changed daily. Not only to clean out any litter kicked in each day, but also because we can have mosquitoes year round. It has been so warm this winter, we've already had 2 mosquito outbreaks this month

I really like the rubber feed pans in the winter. It freezes less and if it does freeze I can just bust the ice out and refill. Summer time I like the plastic ones but they freeze much easier in the winter.

 

[Bhubbard]

My fresh water goes in 30 gal trash can with drinking cups drilled into it. Lid keeps debris out and water clean. I just got it back out now that temps will stay above freezing for most of the time. Winter I have heated 3 gallon buckets I plug in so they don’t freeze. Haul water to those daily.

 

[The Birb King]

I give mine clean water every day because they drink it all and make it dirty. Whenever I dump out the old water though they prefer to drink out of dirty puddles than clean water

 

[The Birb King]

I really like the rubber feed pans in the winter. It freezes less and if it does freeze I can just bust the ice out and refill. Summer time I like the plastic ones but they freeze much easier in the winter.

I use heated buckets in the winter and rubber pans in the summer. This summer I want to create my own waterer with a bucket and poultry cups.

 

[rosemarythyme]

"Clean" water is good enough. As others have noted, dirty puddle water, dew dripping off a fence, snow, are all preferred by chickens to freshly dispensed water. During rainy weather my flock mainly drinks from the water dripping off their rain shelter, and barely touch their waterer at all. If there's snow around, they mostly opt to eat snow for their water needs.

My opaque nipple waterer in its shady spot doesn't get slimy or anything, so I have never scrubbed it or done more than rinse it out with a blast of the hose. In summer once every 4 days is plenty as far as a "clean" and refill.

In winter I don't even rinse as the heating element is wired up and I'm too lazy to unhook it. I just top it off throughout winter with a single quick rinse halfway through the season and that's always been good enough.

 

[WingsysRoost]

I replace water for chickens once daily at minimum, in the morning when I let them out of the coop. I usually replace again when I go out to feed them their scraps/soaked seeds in the afternoon. It gets replaced more frequently when it is really cold or really hot out. They just have an open water bowl as it is easier to keep clean through frequent water changes and can be easily unfrozen in winter. This does mean that I have to monitor to make sure it doesn't fill up with too much debris, because my chickens are very good at kicking up dirt and leaves and everything else, but the ease of refilling more than makes up for that.

The ducks get their water replaced twice daily at minimum, once in the morning and once in the evening. They usually get their water replaced a third time when I replace the water for the chickens. I will check their water at the very least because they have managed to dump it completely in the past. I don't bother too much with how dirty the water actually is as long as it has been replaced recently.

The bowl gets rinsed out each time and then refilled. Usually, they just get rinsed under the outside tap, but in winter, when frozen, the bowl will go under the inside tap so I can run hot water over the ice to thaw it. I often take this as a chance to scrub the bowl. In the summer, they get brought in and rinsed with soap and hot water as needed (more frequently as it gets warmer out). I like using the bowls because it takes no longer to do this than it would to rinse out the dog water bowl. The galvanized waterers take forever to clean out, even in summer with easy access to water.

 

[EagleEyes]

I started my new setup late last fall so I'm sure this coming summer I'll do things a bit different.
It's alot easier to keep water fresh in the winter when I'm just keeping it above freezing for me.
Hot weather always changes things up, so it will be interesting to see how I will adjust my waterer this coming summer. The one thing for sure is that the water will be in the run and not in the coop.
But I have to say it's very interesting to see all the other different setups that people use and of course depending on where they live and the climate they live in

 

[saysfaa]

..,.so giving chickens, other poultry, dogs, cats and whatever else you can come up with, fresh water, what does that really mean? fresh water every day?
That's just crazy!...
So, what do you think?

I think it is not crazy to give fresh, clean water every day for purely humanitarian reasons. If not for that, than because it is the least cost, most benefit thing that can be done for them.

It is so even if they come running for boot snow and mud puddles. I don't think that necessarily means they prefer dirty water. Among other things, they could like social aspects of it, it could mean the fresh water isn't as fresh/clean/palatable as one thinks, it could mean they consider availability more important than avoiding leptospirosis, giardia, etc. (look up risks of letting your dog drink from puddles, if your vet isn't thorough enough to have told you at a check up.)

I think some systems allow water to stay fresh and clean longer than other systems so sometimes it isn't crazy to clean and refill the waterer more than once a day (many chick water systems, for example) or every other day (many nipple water systems, for example).

If the water looks and smells clean on the sixth day and they drink as much on the fifth day as they do on the first day, then maybe you have a system that it isn't crazy to change every sixth day.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I'll be honest. I don't scrub my water containers. Trying to think if I've ever done more than hose them clean? and I only hose them out a few times a summer due to slime.

Clean water to me is from my tap. It's not pond water. It's not store bought tap water put into plastic jugs and shipped across the country. It's recycled milk jugs filled with water from the kitchen sink. There are ingenious rain water collection systems for livestock too. My jugs are brought out in morning, little water used to swish clean the bowl then fill it up. Repeat in afternoon. If hot weather I put out more water to account for them tipping over bowls and whatnot while I'm gone for the day. Place them in shade to not overheat.