Hanging the waterer?

[chickmomma03]

I'm trying to decide if it would be less stressful to hang the waterer off the ground. They keep kicking dirt/straw into it, so when I go out they won't drink from it since it's dirty (and I don't want them to, ick). I have a water container set up in the coop and an extra outside in the exercise area, the one in the exercise area isn't as big so even though I refill 2-3x a day they are emptying it. I don't want them to go without water, and I don't want to be running out every hour to refill the outdoor and clean out the coop one. So, do you hang yours off the ground? If so, how high, a few inches? Right now an auto-watering system isn't an option I can afford, so I need to use what I have.

 

[MeepBeep]

A nipple water system can be done on the cheap, a 5 gallon bucket, lid and some vertical water nipples can be had for about $10 total... And you just need to drill a few holes to assemble it...

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I elevate my feed and water stations from from the first day in the brooder and right on outside into the coop/run. You can accomplish this by hanging or placing them on blocks. You want the lip to be about chest height to your smallest bird (or higher with a way for the birds to get up to reach (ie a platform, step, etc).

 

[chickmomma03]

thanks. I'm going to go with hanging them up. At some point I plan to have a better system than what I have now, but it's not an option to buy anything right now.