Dirty water

[Hopeful homesteader]

My chicks are now 2 weeks old and are constantly kicking all the bedding into their water and then poop in it so I'm having to change it every hr. They get it so full none of them can get to the water which worries me overnight cause I don't want them to get dehydrated while I'm sleeping. It's one of those automatic refilling water jugs. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? Should I just take the jug out and use a bowl instead?

 

[CluckerFamily]

Do you have bricks or pieces of wood handy? You can put these under the waterer to raise it up as long as they can still get their beaks in the water.

 

[3KillerBs]

I put my waterer onto a block set on a paver -- keeping bedding away from the water to limit how much can be kicked in.

Pavers, without blocks for the first few days:

A different batch of chicks with the waterer up on blocks on a tote lid:

Waterer raised higher on even more blocks as they grew:

As soon as I could, I started training them to use a horizontal nipple waterer.

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

Thanks @CluckerFamily @3KillerBs I have several sizes of bricks, will start with the smallest and go up as they get bigger.

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks @CluckerFamily @3KillerBs I have several sizes of bricks, will start with the smallest and go up as they get bigger.

Bricks are incredibly useful!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-“chickens-101”-articles-don’t-mention.76003/

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

I put my waterer onto a block set on a paver -- keeping bedding away from the water to limit how much can be kicked in.

Pavers, without blocks for the first few days:
View attachment 2777477

A different batch of chicks with the waterer up on blocks on a tote lid:
View attachment 2777489

Waterer raised higher on even more blocks as they grew:
View attachment 2777499

As soon as I could, I started training them to use a horizontal nipple waterer.

I noticed your feeders have the bottle for auto refilling, I've checked a few feed stores and they only have the bottom red part. Did yours come together as a unit or did you buy it separate? I got one and it has the threads in it but every one on the shelf had no bottle

 

[3KillerBs]

I noticed your feeders have the bottle for auto refilling, I've checked a few feed stores and they only have the bottom red part. Did yours come together as a unit or did you buy it separate? I got one and it has the threads in it but every one on the shelf had no bottle

The bottle and pan were sold separately because there were multiple bottles available for the same pan. The clerk helping me knew which pans fit which bottles from the multitude of sizes and options -- different size bottles and bases for either water or feed to use the same bottle.

I chose a 1 gallon because that's the size for a Sav-A-Chick packet and I could use it for electrolytes after the chicks had transitioned to the nipple waterers.

 

[Huntmaster]

I noticed your feeders have the bottle for auto refilling, I've checked a few feed stores and they only have the bottom red part. Did yours come together as a unit or did you buy it separate? I got one and it has the threads in it but every one on the shelf had no bottle

Quart mason jars fit most small feeders.

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

This morning there's only a few small pieces of bedding in the water, I can see most of it caught at the edge of the bricks and I didn't have to clean it yesterday after putting the bricks in, smells a lot better too.

 

[DobieLover]

This morning there's only a few small pieces of bedding in the water, I can see most of it caught at the edge of the bricks and I didn't have to clean it yesterday after putting the bricks in, smells a lot better too.

I make baby bottles.

It costs about $7 for a pack of 4 vertical nipples and I get the sports bottle from thrift shops for $0.50 to $0.75.

They also work great for broody hens. She has water available during incubation and uses it more readily during the last couple of days when she is trying to cool her body down. She then teaches the chicks how to drink from it until she is ready to take them out of the maternity ward. She returns to the ward regularly to let her chicks drink from it.