Hate my Waterer!

[EdnaAndEdith]

I think I’m at my last straw with my water container... this morning the piece of garbage lid didn’t screw on for the thousandth time and I thought it had. Leaving me rushing out the door to work and covered in dirty chicken water and mud splashed from the mess everywhere. And leaving my newly recovered hen (she was ill) bopped in the head by the lid as it rolled away. I have tried several different kinds and never really been happy with any of them. This most recent style was supposed to hang but the handle snapped off after a couple of weeks and my girls have a miraculous way of dirtying their water in a split second. All of the ones so far have leaked. I was looking at trying to make some sort of conversion from the PVC pipe feeders I’ve seen but I’m not sure how easy this would be to clean. What do you find the easiest to clean out, fill, keep full, and keep clean?

 

[chuckachucka]

I feel your pain. For a long time I used those red and white plastic waterers for my small pet flock, which were always too heavy to hang and would end up with stuff kicked into them or worse someone perching on the top and pooping directly into the water. Finally I bought some small metal buckets which I place around the edges of the run and use zipties to secure the handles of the buckets to the metal links of the fencing to prevent them being knocked over. Surprisingly effective and cheap.

 

[Pjacct]

I like the pvc pipe with the water lubber (?) or nipple. Less water to muddy and my girls picked up really quickly how to use them.
I think you can buy the lubbers themselves and attach to bottles. I use an empty soft drink container which means when it gets dirty I put the old one into the recycling after a rinse and start with another new bottle
Oh sorry.... edit.... to attach I use hardware Velcro around the hutch wires and the container. Stays in place really well with a minimum of fuss

 

[nminusyplusm]

I love horizontal nipple waterers made from 5 gallon buckets and gamma lids. They are easy to put together, stay clean and hygienic and are very low maintenance.

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

Good ideas. Any others? How do you fill your little buckets? I guess you could use a clip instead of zip tie so you could just carry bucket to faucet then carry it back. Do they kick dirt into them? And on the pvc pipe how do you clean and sanitize the inside? Doesn’t it get grimey?

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

How do you go about training the chickens to drink from the nipples?

I was also thinking some sort of dog water auto fill bowl or possibly an igloo type water container and somehow attach a tray that the water could “auto fill” into but hadn’t figured out the logistics of how to do this.

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

What ends up happening is I sacrifice one of my mixing bowls and just setting that in the coop with water in it because the auto waterers I’ve had have been that bad.

 

[nminusyplusm]

How do you go about training the chickens to drink from the nipples?

Chickens naturally peck at things that are red. I didn't have to teach them. Once one pecks and figures out what it's for, the rest followed her lead.

 

[Pjacct]

Good ideas. Any others? How do you fill your little buckets? I guess you could use a clip instead of zip tie so you could just carry bucket to faucet then carry it back. Do they kick dirt into them? And on the pvc pipe how do you clean and sanitize the inside? Doesn’t it get grimey?

To clean I take the cap off and use a kitchen scrubbed and mild detergent and give a good rinse. The lubber or nipples I use an old toothbrush and then also use ACV which does seem to help with the grimy ness but overall no big issues as water is changed regularly

 

[tigger19687]

Mine didn't "get" the nipples, I donated the bucket to the MSPCA.

I have the dog bowl for Winter and white/red type for Summer but I don't hang mine.

I Wonder if you could use the PVC pipe with the Y fitting for water like they do for Feed?