float waterer/auto waterer question

[katydidit]

We are in the process of building our chicken run...our 4 girls are 4 weeks old today and getting anxious to get outside!

We are lucky enough to have a hose bib inside the run area, and was wondering if anyone used something like this:

http://cozywinters.com/shop/deluxe-...am=61752597&zmas=1&zmac=6&zmap=deluxe-waterer

Our dogs have this outdoors, and it makes life soooo much easier. Would an identical product work for fully grown chickens? It would be their outdoor source of water (we will also put a standard poultry watering unit inside the coop) but as it gets so hot where we live, it is definitely convenient to have cold water flowing into a dish as it warms up/chickens drink/water evaporates.

Thoughts?

 

[briteday]

We have a 5-gallon bucket with a toilet float valve installed inside, connected to a garden hose. It stays full automatically, we bury the hose to keep it cool in the summer (actually we dumped mulch on top of the hose where it runs behind the raised garden beds), and put blue ice containers in the bucket during the hottest days of the summer.

 

[briteday]

sorry...duplicate

 

[WoodlandWoman]

They work great, except I find them a pain to clean. Whatever is on the dog's flews or the chicken's beak washes off into the water. Things like bits of dog food or chicken feed then feeds bacteria and it gets slimy. They need the same cleaning as any other bowl or waterer. We usually only use them if we're traveling. Not that we ever go away together anymore.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

Are they easy to clean. I know mine would fill up with dirt and junk every day but if they clean easy, it might not matter.