Clean Water? what does it mean?

[beackers]

We use a five-gallon Home Depot bucket with nipples and something like these screw top lids. We used two of these in a frame we built out of 2x4s.
I've heard that the rule of thumb is "don't give your chickens water you wouldn't drink", although that might be for bees. (I'm a beekeeper too.)
You'll want to clean these out with Dawn fairly often, don't neglect the cleanliness state of these buckets.

 

[NatJ]

fresh water, what does that really mean? fresh water every day?
That's just crazy!

Not crazy at all.
It's often easier to do things on a predictable schedule.
For example, dump and refill every waterer and water dish, morning and evening, every day of the year.

I have done that, for various numbers of rabbits and chickens, for quite a few years during my life. Plus a third time, in the middle of each day, when the weather was below freezing. Repurposed plastic milk jugs work well for carrying water, and the old water can get emptied onto a garden or lawn when possible, rather than creating a mud puddle or ice patch in the chicken pen. A hose is good if you need larger amounts of water each time (but not in freezing weather.)

If you're going to dump and refill it every day anyway, don't bother getting a giant waterer unless you have a large number of birds drinking it. Just pick a size that holds more than enough for a single day (maybe enough for two days.)

They sell 2 gal, 3 gal 5 gal and I'm sure more

The 5 gallon waterer is enough for 25-50 chickens, depending on the weather, if you fill it every day. If you have fewer chickens, either you dump out a lot of water, or you let it go longer between refills, or you use a smaller waterer.

 

[Yvette In California]

Great advice here, and yes, I must echo the irony of it all. My hens *love* it when I dump a bit of water out of the font onto the stepping stone the font rests on. So yes, that meme about the chicken drinking from a muddy puddle when you make all the efforts on providing clean water are so true! Cheers.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I don't think you have to be buying water unless you think your tap water is contaminated somehow. In fact, I try not to give my chickens anything from plastic containers if I can help it. I just give mine fresh tap water whenever it runs out (every day or two), or if they dirty it significantly. In the summer I fill their waterer up with the garden hose.

 

[Kiki]

So I have been reading about always giving your chickens fresh clean water, but what does that really mean?
They sell 2 gal, 3 gal 5 gal and I'm sure more and I have them all, plus all of the DIY ones, 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!
I have been using a 2 gal waterer and filled/changed it out every 2.5 days, and now am using a 5 gal waterer, and fill it with fresh water every 6 days.
I give my cat and dog fresh water quite often, then I see them drinking out of a plant saucer, puddle outside and just laugh.
So, what do you think?

I change my bird's water every single day.
My dog's too.

 

[motto mamma hen]

It depends on your waterer. If you use a type they can poop in then change the water no less than every two days. That will disrupt the life cycle of most microbes that grow in dirty water. I change it daily (more often in the brooder) because I consider water with poop in it kind of filthy. If you dump the water every two days that also disrupts the life cycle of mosquitoes that may be breeding in the water.

If you use a type of waterer that they cannot poop in and mosquitoes can't breed in it then I don't know of a time limit,

If you put additives in the water, how often you need to change it will depend on what those additives are.

I do not scrub the containers, just dump the water and refill. But when algae starts turning them green I wash with a bleach solution.

Soap should not be used to clean chicken water. Use vinegar or bleach and rinse well. Soap, even though rinsed well, will still have some residue.

 

[Rurumo]

I think changing it daily encourages them to drink more, I know it works that way with my dog, he will drink even more if I change it multiple times per day right in front of him.

 

[jreardon1918]

We have a 5 gallon bucket with Horizontal nipples. The way it is situated is is rarely in the sun and the lid keeps out the dirt.We add water a gallon at a time. We rinse out the buck semi-annually as part of the coop refresh. So far this has worked. YMMV.

 

[Jerhanner]

We have 2 two-gallon waterers and a heated pad. We just switch it out every day in the winter. For the summer, there's also a 5 gallon metal waterer at the end of the run in the shade which we fill and clean weekly. (For 9 chickens)

 

[Bonnieboo]

I empty and refill every day the four bowls I have available (large property,. they don't have to travel back to the one water source).
Also, they always decide to dust bath next to the bowls whever i put them hence dirt in bowls.