Food/water systems? Shelving or creative ways to put in the run? Help!

[franklinchickens]

I'm looking for some creative ways to make a shelf or some sort of feed/watering system for my chicken run. Currently we have 4 (and may be getting 2 or 3 more) chickens and I'm just using those small round food/waterers which work well except they keep tipping them over and kicking shavings and sand in them. So I'm trying to figure out a way to get them off the ground and also where I can access them easily. Here's a pic of the coop/run:

They have one set up in the coop but during the day, there's a set in the run underneath which is the set I'm having problems with. We need something we can attach to the 4x4's perhaps or I don't know what? Any pics of creative systems out there that might work for us?
As you can tell from the coop/run, my husband is pretty handy (our friends call it the chicken condo and ask to move in). We don't mind getting crafty - just need some thoughts!

 

[Imp]

I'm not sure if this will help you. But I use 3 bowls for my chickens. Think like mixing bowls. I made a stand with 3 holes cut into it. It holds the bowls at a slight angle. Turned out the angle wasn't steep enough to keep the chickens from climbing in the bowls, so I added a few bricks, in the back, to steepen the angle. Now they don't climb in.
You can go to my BYC page and see the bowls and stand on the lawn when I was cleaning last year. The stand fits right in the door to the left. You can barely see the edge of it in the last photo. It's easy to grab them, when I lock them up, and bring them in for cleaning and refilling.

Hope this helps

Imp

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

My recommendation for water is ALWAYS nipple waterers. You can have a 5 gal bucket with nipples in the bottom of it or you can attach a hose and pvc pipe to the bucket and put the nipples in the pvc. NO MORE DIRTY WATER and NO SPILLS. Do a search for nipple waterers and you will get lots of ideas. I have even used milk jugs with the nipples. So easy to change the water if you want and no leaks or dirt! Just gotta love em!

BTW your waterers aren't working well if they are always being spilled and filled with dirt and shavings.

 

[franklinchickens]

Quote:
I know! I have to go out and change it several times a day which gets pretty annoying. I'm going to look into the nipple waterers - I think we should easily be able to attach something through the hardware cloth in the run. Oddly enough, this has been the biggest issue we've had since getting the chickens except for one illness. Thanks for idea!

 

[franklinchickens]

Quote:
I saw the set up - definitely looks like something my husband could make. Mine have a tendency to climb on everything which is why our current waterers keep getting knocked over! Nice pics!

 

[gavinandallison]

I just raised my waterer up off the floor with several bricks, and no more standing on them and clean water!!

 

[gavinandallison]

I just raised my waterer up off the floor with several bricks, and no more standing on them and clean water!!

 

[mamichi]

Quote:
We have the nipple waters installed in the bottom of rubbermaid pitchers. I thought they were great until this summer b/c the chickens stopped drinking out of them. The water got too hot it seems (and without receiving direct sunlight). I thought about it and I wouldn't want to drink out of hot plastic. yuck. I live in South Florida. We're cooling down now and they have gone back to drinking out of them.

 

[franklinchickens]

I ended up getting galvanized hanging waterer today - I hope it works! I was concerned about the plastic due to the heat & humidity as well. Just hope it doesn't freeze but we do have a heat lamp.
@gavinandallison I've tried the raising up on brick method and it doesn't help with my chickens! They jump right up there and knock it over. It's like they are having a contest to see who can knock it over first!

 

[kichohana]

i had used a plastic waterer raised up on a cinderblock. it was a 1 gal size. i was refilling it almost daily this summer, and although it was in the shade, it had algae grow in and on it. YUCK! the waterer was constantly getting dirty from the sand in the run too. i swear they were washing sand off their beaks into it!

i have since switched to a nipple waterer system. i have a 5gal plastic bucket outside my run with pvc pipe running into my run with 4 nipples to drink from. it took the girls about 5 minutes to figure them out. pretty easy since they like to peck at shiny things...

the bucket is dark gray and no light hits the water, so no more algae. since it has a 5gal capacity, i'm not constantly refilling it. when the water gets too warm i just add ice to the bucket to cool it down.

i can only say that i wish i had done it sooner!