Cleaning feeders and waterers (indoors vs. outdoors)

[fox623]

Every other day I refill our girls' waterers (we have two separate waterers, as two of our four pullets are in quarantine) outside with the garden hose and wash them once a week with white vinegar. Sadly, the temperature is dropping, so my partner and I will soon disconnect our hose for the winter.

Although (until this weekend) we have two chickens quarantined in our home (powder room, directly near the garage), my boyfriend goes bananas if anything from the coop comes inside. Being a doctor, he is concerned about the risk of disease transmission if we wash and refill the ladies' bowls in the kitchen sink. Fair enough, there is a TON of feces. Everywhere.

I just don't know how we will clean and refill their waterers once we don't have a hose. What do you guys (especially those who live in cold weather) do? Is there any evidence that I can throw at him to support washing the bowls indoors?

 

[rosemarythyme]

I actually don't wash my waterers (no algae issue as I have a very opaque waterer that sits in the shade, and moderate climate). In spring thru fall I rinse them with a hose and call it a day. In the winter, I don't even rinse them, I just dump out the used water and refill with fresh.

To refill in winter I use a 1 gallon iced tea jug (milk jug works too) and fill that in the "chicken sink" indoors, then carry it out and fill the waterer that way.

 

[fox623]

I actually don't wash my waterers (no algae issue as I have a very opaque waterer that sits in the shade, and moderate climate). In spring thru fall I rinse them with a hose and call it a day. In the winter, I don't even rinse them, I just dump out the used water and refill with fresh.

To refill in winter I use a 1 gallon iced tea jug (milk jug works too) and fill that in the "chicken sink" indoors, then carry it out and fill the waterer that way.

Thank you! We don’t have electricity, so there’s no heater, but I’m hopeful that if we switch them out, they won’t freeze over.

 

[KyCoop]

I use the outdoor hose until we have to unhook it for winter. I then use the bath tub. I never, ever, ever wash any chicken stuff in the kitchen sink. Nope nope. Even to refill and switch out frozen waterers in winter. Always the tub.

 

[Isadora]

I only use the hose outside. With my set up, their water doesn't get poopy. I have a five gallon bucket with horizontal nipples. The one I have outside the coop will get some algae in it from the sun but a scrub with a stiff bristle brush and the hose gets it clean quickly.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you! We don’t have electricity, so there’s no heater, but I’m hopeful that if we switch them out, they won’t freeze over.

That should work, as long as you can stay on top of switching them. That's how I manage hummingbird feeders at least, I have double the amount of feeders that and swap them each morning to let the frozen ones thaw.

 

[Ozarkoak]

Every other day I refill our girls' waterers (we have two separate waterers, as two of our four pullets are in quarantine) outside with the garden hose and wash them once a week with white vinegar. Sadly, the temperature is dropping, so my partner and I will soon disconnect our hose for the winter.

Although (until this weekend) we have two chickens quarantined in our home (powder room, directly near the garage), my boyfriend goes bananas if anything from the coop comes inside. Being a doctor, he is concerned about the risk of disease transmission if we wash and refill the ladies' bowls in the kitchen sink. Fair enough, there is a TON of feces. Everywhere.

I just don't know how we will clean and refill their waterers once we don't have a hose. What do you guys (especially those who live in cold weather) do? Is there any evidence that I can throw at him to support washing the bowls indoors?

HAHA your boyfriend would freak the f out if he ever came to our house.
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[Ridgerunner]

I also do not wash the waterers unless there is an algae problem, then I rinse them in bleach. If I dump the water every couple of days I interrupt the life cycle of things growing in the water, whether that is mosquito larva or stuff like the protozoa that causes Coccidiosis. No need to scrub the waterer or feeder on any kind of a regular basis.

I would not carry the waterer into my kitchen to fill it anyway, no need. Use a different "clean" container to carry water to the waterer. I use a bucket. Maybe fill it from a utility sink if you have one. Or maybe a bathroom.

Since you are quarantining you don't want to carry water or food in the same bucket for both of them. Carrying water in different buckets with the water from different sources would be a better quarantine.

 

[AnnPann]

i do the same as the rest of replies. bonus is my hose water by the coop (during summer) comes out scalding hot from the sun, so if anything is grubby, i use that hot water to wash everything down. no sense wasting it!

in winter, i have a gallon jug or 2 that i fill inside (utility sink in laundry) and haul out to fill waterers. boy do i hate winter.

ive never once washed anything inside. if i need to really clean something chicken related, that happens on the driveway where i can hook up a hose nearby any time of year.

 

[3KillerBs]

In my climate, though we take the hoses off in the winter, I can still use the hose bibs outside.

Very rarely, in unusually cold weather, I have to fill waterers in the bathtub.

I will, however, wash things that need it, especially chick equipment, in the sink -- using the same procedures (including a splash of bleach), that I use for such messes as the container that held the forgotten leftovers that turned into a science project at the back of the fridge and the cutting boards I use for raw poultry, etc.

Then I clean the sink with bleach.

Would I prefer to have a utility sink? Yes. But I don't feel unsafe about this because hot water, soap, and bleach do their jobs.