BigLar368
Songster
I got tired of emptying a water pan every couple of hours. As they have gotten bigger they seem to make more of a mess. I know what they do but I don't know how they get it to stink so bad....lol. They drill holes in the mud with their beaks and rinse it in the water. I installed a small 50 gallon above ground stock pond for them with a small ramp but they are not old enough to figure it out yet. We have to catch them and put them in it. Anyways I made a kinda trough out of PVC so they can stick their heads in there and clean their beak and head. I have a water line plumbed to one end and a drain valve and 1" PVC on the other so I can open the drain and just turn on the water to flush it out once a day. Water passes under my fence into a small drainage ditch in the alley. Works out pretty good. As soon as the water was turned on they knew exactly what to do and all of them went over and started dipping their heads in there and cleaning themselves. The water is pretty cool from the well so they like it and it's free. It's been really hot last few days and they have been panting a lot. Today after getting the trough done they did not pant much at all. Not saying it's the best set up but it's way better than using a pan or tray. They still use the chicken nipples a lot though along with the chickens and they only 5 weeks old so I feel lucky. Anyways just thought I would share.
Still very cute though.
