Deep litter method

[Blooie]

Yes...nipple cup waterers. They still give them the opportunity to drink like they prefer but still keeps the water clean and manageable. I've found that the adult birds prefer these over the straight, red nipples that chicks prefer but that the chicks don't seem to be able to trigger these nipple cups, so this bucket below is rigged with both in case I have chicks in with the big flock and both need to drink from the same bucket. In this pic, no adult birds are using it so it's dry in the cup...this is chicks in the brooder accessing the red nipples on the bottom of the bucket.

I've found that adult birds learn to use this style nipple more quickly than the other nipples and as they drink they trigger more water to flow into the cup so the cup is never dry. You can hang a bucket and have several of these nipples in the same bucket to serve several birds....and you won't often find the cups filled with debris that has been kicked up, though the occasional leaf piece will find itself there...you just twist the cup upside down, swipe it with your finger to clean out the debris and twist it back, trigger the nipple to add more water to the cup and you are good to go.

They are even easier to install into a bucket than the red nipples. I am currently using one such bucket in my rooster pen and he learned to use it right away. This past winter I used one for a whole pen of roosters and would put warm/hot water in it in the morning and it would stay thawed and usable all day long, even when temps were in the teens and 20s. The next morning I'd find the bucket almost empty but with a rim of ice coating the insides and the nipple frozen...just add more warm water, it thaws out and stays that way all day...and so on and so forth.

Oh, sure - after I've invested in vertical nipple waterers and then upgraded to horizontal ones I find out about these.

 

[Beekissed]

Oh, sure - after I've invested in vertical nipple waterers and then upgraded to horizontal ones I find out about these.

Blooie, those vertical ones are best for young chicks and you will get some good out of them later...they won't go to waste. They are cheap. These are also, so no worries. It's a good thing to have several watering options as you never know what situation you will be getting into with your flock from season to season. I've found great use for both of these styles of nipples, so it won't hurt to have both.

 

[Blooie]

Blooie, those vertical ones are best for young chicks and you will get some good out of them later...they won't go to waste. They are cheap. These are also, so no worries. It's a good thing to have several watering options as you never know what situation you will be getting into with your flock from season to season. I've found great use for both of these styles of nipples, so it won't hurt to have both.

Ya know I love ya!

 

[RoseMarie1]

I'm switching over to clear tarps for my hoop coop this spring and will cover the top with a bikini top of silver tarp for the shade during the summer. I want more light and warmth from the sun during the winter months after experiencing this past winter.

that makes sense and it would be warmer.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THis is great-- an all in one system . . . .Thank you.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Typical . . . we just survived the winter, spring is just springing, and we are planning for winter again. LOL I've already started counting down to December.

 

[Blooie]

Typical . . . we just survived the winter, spring is just springing, and we are planning for winter again. LOL I've already started counting down to December.

Here December starts in August. <sigh>

 

[RoseMarie1]

I'm switching over to clear tarps for my hoop coop this spring and will cover the top with a bikini top of silver tarp for the shade during the summer. I want more light and warmth from the sun during the winter months after experiencing this past winter.

I'm HOPING I have 2 panels left over, hee hee so I can make something from them. We bought 5 for the close in of the gazebo Sat. but I sure am hoping I have two too many. I have them standing up beside it and one goes over halfway up the poles. I'd like to have me a little garden tractor I could let the smaller chicks sorta free range in and I have four 2x6's out there I could make the square on the bottom with. Yep yep yep.

Those chicks KNOW they are growing. They don't freak out like the others did last year. You could have a large piece of plastic or cloth in your hand carrying it some where and they would ram into the wire flying trying to get away from it and you're not even close to their pen with it. Especially that ole poop hammock I made for under their old roosting area, every time I'd wash that or take it off to dump out they would go ballistic. These chicks don't do that. They're just as calm as they can be. Although they DO LIKE a light on at night time.

can you say rotten chicks?

 

[Arielle]

Quote: Hmmm-- makes you in the Far Far north!!

 

[Beekissed]

I'm HOPING I have 2 panels left over, hee hee so I can make something from them. We bought 5 for the close in of the gazebo Sat. but I sure am hoping I have two too many. I have them standing up beside it and one goes over halfway up the poles. I'd like to have me a little garden tractor I could let the smaller chicks sorta free range in and I have four 2x6's out there I could make the square on the bottom with. Yep yep yep.

Those chicks KNOW they are growing. They don't freak out like the others did last year. You could have a large piece of plastic or cloth in your hand carrying it some where and they would ram into the wire flying trying to get away from it and you're not even close to their pen with it. Especially that ole poop hammock I made for under their old roosting area, every time I'd wash that or take it off to dump out they would go ballistic. These chicks don't do that. They're just as calm as they can be. Although they DO LIKE a light on at night time.

can you say rotten chicks?

I let my youngest brood out of the brooder yesterday and they are having a ball! Will still leave their little heating pad brooder heater in there for them because we are getting temps in the 40s at night still but they are now officially moved into the free range world...I think they are 2 wks old now but not sure, could be younger. I forgot to mark on the calendar when they were purchased but they look a couple of weeks to me. Bad, huh? Getting too old....