Having issues keeping water in with my confined poultry

[furbabymum]

So our poultry are locked tight in the barn thanks to the great horned owls who came to nest. Our chickens, guineas, peacocks and ducks are all in the barn for their protection.

Problem is the barn floor is not level, not anywhere. So, we had a big cement pad on the side of the barn that we were keeping their big 5 gallon waterer at and the ducks had a pond. Now the 5 gallon waterer can't be used as it requires a 100% level surface or it just leaks all the water out and the ducks can't get to the pond because it's not protected.

I bought a heated dog bowl that I've been filling in the morning and when I get home from work. It's not enough with the ducks in there. I'm not sure what else to do though. It's been freezing temps here and I've no idea what else to use.

 

[furbabymum]

So the solution is probably just offing my ducks aye. Guess we could eat them all and that would solve the problem.

 

[Den in Penn]

Make a square frame with 2x4s so the waterer can fit inside it. Fill the frame with gravel, stone or sand and level the fill and set the waterer on that. The frame will keep the fill in placed and the waterer is off the floor.

 

[sires6]

Ducks, geese and waterfowl are one of my constant water users. Even with 3 waterers, they use more than anyone else. Take one of those flexible black feed tubs, the kind you get at a farm supply and fill that during the day. Only fill in the morning. Ducks and geese need SOME water to eat, but not a huge amount more than chickens, et al. Really, it's because they are fastidious. My geese will "bathe" in the edge of the upright waterer... dipping their beak and then flapping on the ground, repeat.

So, at night, just restrict it to the one waterer or make a hanging waterer with nipples. I use one of those and it works on ALL my birds... I have 20+ chickens, 4 geese, 10 ducks, 11 turkeys, 9 guineas... Nobody stays up during the night except the geese stay up later.

Oh and what are you doing about the owl?

 

[furbabymum]

Ducks, geese and waterfowl are one of my constant water users. Even with 3 waterers, they use more than anyone else. Take one of those flexible black feed tubs, the kind you get at a farm supply and fill that during the day. Only fill in the morning. Ducks and geese need SOME water to eat, but not a huge amount more than chickens, et al. Really, it's because they are fastidious. My geese will "bathe" in the edge of the upright waterer... dipping their beak and then flapping on the ground, repeat.

So, at night, just restrict it to the one waterer or make a hanging waterer with nipples. I use one of those and it works on ALL my birds... I have 20+ chickens, 4 geese, 10 ducks, 11 turkeys, 9 guineas... Nobody stays up during the night except the geese stay up later.

Oh and what are you doing about the owl?

Problem is it freezes plus our hose is frozen right now. So I'm carrying water out twice a day to the heated dog bowl from the house. I was giving them a lot more water before the freezing started. I'm unprepared for this. We had every intention of keeping the pond deiced for the ducks but thanks to the owl they can't even go out to the pond.

As for what we are doing about it, locking up the poultry is it. This summer we may look into completely netting the runs but they are MASSIVE runs and the ground is too frozen for us to drop posts to support the nets.