Um. Yeah. I read and read and read on here all the time, ask tons of questions, and try to soak up as much information as I can. I even noticed my rooster starting to crow, when my FIL (who raised chickens when he was young) thought it was the egg song - I was right, it's definitly a crow! And yet, for all the great information here, I had a moment this morning. I've got a water bowl thing that sits on the ground. I know it's not supposed to. I've been looking for a hanging one, but have left it on the ground so far since I haven't found a hanging on here that wasn't huge. 2 or 3 times a day I have to switch out the water because they knock bedding into it or poop in it. But I thought hanging was the only solution, so I dealt with it, cleaned the coop more than I should have to, cleaned the water more times than I can count, and had talks with the chickens that they just ignored, until I could get a hanging one and figure out how to hang it in my coop. Yesterday I went to lowes to just look around (planning stage for new coop!), and happened to find some small squarish landscaping bricks for 75 cents. I only had 3 dollars on me (come on payday! lol), but a lighbulb went off and I grabbed 2. When I got home, I cleaned out the coop, cleaned out the water bowl, and raised it by setting it on the 2 bricks. Wow. Really, it makes that much of a difference? This morning, their bedding was still very very clean, the water bowl was still standing upright, and the water was still clean. Doh! Okay, okay, you guys are right and I need to listen to you. The stuff here really works. Anyone else want to share an aha moment?
Our water dishes are on cinder blocks. The one in the coop stays pretty clean. The one outside is used as a foot bath. Go figure.
I set my 1 gallon waterer on 3 large round pavers stacked on top of each other. It raised the waterer up to chicken chest height and worked very well! Now it's winter and I have to figure out something else cause the water has been moved into the coop and I don't have that much height anymore for it, least I don't think so.
I just installed a hanging waterer and hanging feeder for inside my coop...no more messes this winter!!!
For my adult large fowl, the feeders & waterers are on milk crates when they are outdoors; when inside for the winter, I hang them by lightweight chains with a caribener (sp?) This way, I can easily adjust them. Sidebar: be VERY careful not to get the bedding wet - this can cause many health issues for chickens.
My D'OH Moment came when I was cleaning the coop. My girls like to roost on the narrow partition that separates the bedded area from the non-bedded floor. So, of course, there is poop on the ground underneath that roost, which is made of paving stones. In the winter the poopsicles froze on the pavers & were next-to-impossible to scrape up from the stones until......... <wait for drumroll> I figured out I could put shavings outside the bedded part and under the partition. D'OH! No more chiseling poopsicles. My waterer is an old-fashioned glass jar one that I am fond of. To keep it off the floor I just made a base of bricks. Wah-Lah! no more poopy water or soaked shavings at the base of the waterer. In really cold weather (soon here ) it will be replaced by a less quaint but very efficient heated dog bowl, also raised up on the bricks.
My feeder and waterer are on upside down flower pots. Work GREAT. The only stuff that gets into their water is what ever falls off their beaks when they drink so it stays quite clean. It's kind of late in the season but if you stumble by a garage sale or a resale shop, those are great places to check for things like this that are dirt cheep.
Quote:Um...did I mention I've had the same coop and setup since June.... way more than 3 weeks, lol!!
