Droppings in the waterer.....!

[e.lolly]

Hi. I am attempting my first chick raising and am having a problem with their droppings ending up in their waterer. I have been cleaning it out 2x (sometimes 3x) a day and it never fails...within minutes of putting it in their brooder, one of them promptly takes a dump in it! By the second cleaning of the day it is FULL of droppings and rice hulls. I have started noticing that a few of them have runny stools now and am suspcious that this situation might have something to do with it. I'm pretty sure they have enough space, they just poop EVERWHERE! Any suggestions? I've tried forming little cardboard barriers hoping to discourage loitering, but it hasn't worked at all. I was thinking about possibly raising the waterer a bit?...so they can stretch their necks to drink but not their butts up there to poop? My Storey's Guide states that droppings in the water is a sure recipe for disaster with chicks, but doesn't really give any ideas for stopping it. HELP!

 

[BirdBoy88]

that happen to me when i had my ducklings in the brooder.. so i took the water jar and put a piece of small wood under it to level with there heads so that the water doesn't get dirty so fast... i'm not saying it wont get dirty cuz it will but it stops it from gettin dirty so fast

 

[BearSwampChick]

First, raising them helps a lot and then I covered the top of the waterers with margarine or larger plastic containers. Keeps them from roosting on the top of them. Or at least, if they do, it doesn't fall directly into the water.

 

[PotterWatch]

I agree with raising it up, I have both food and water propped up to about shoulder height on my birds. I also bought a bird fountain that allows the birds to stick their heads in to get water, but no way can they get any other parts of them in, lol. Keeps out the poop completely but they still do manage to kick some shavings in there. I can't find a picture of it right now, but I will get one of mine later today.

 

[Chirpy]

Here's a picture of what I did to keep my waterer clean(er). They very seldom get anything (poop or shavings) in it anymore.

First, when they were little fuzzy butts, I put it just on the white wood with the wire over it. Then, as they grew I put different size pieces of wood under it until it is now on the 4x4 posts. I will eventually hang it from the ceiling - that always has worked great for me with my older hens.

 

[SewingDiva]

We had the same problem with our two week olds, so just yesterday I used a round Tupperware top to raise it about an inch. There have been no droppings or pine shavings in the water since.

When I see it getting dirty again I'll go to a 2 inch round cake pan, and after that they will likely be old enough to move into their coop,and the water can will be hung from the ceiling.

~Phyllis