How clean does the water have to be? Give it to me straight!

[PineBurrowPeeps]

I clean and refill once a day, usually at night for the next day, and then I bleach everything out once a month and let it sun dry.

 

[isabrownmom]

I use a gallon bucket with 3 nipple waterers on the bottom of it. I mix in 1 TBS. of raw ACV and change daily, adding ice on a really hot day. I did not offer any other water so that they had to drink from the nipples. A half a day of being thirsty and they figured it out.

 

[livin-green]

I have a 3 gallon waterer that sits in the coop atop a stack of regular bricks--two high. It's made with a top handle and slanted top, so I have never found poop on it or in the water. I mostly only find food crud that came from their beaks in the drinking part which usually settles to the bottom. Since I also use ACV and don't want to waste it or change water 3 times a day, I usually wait until there is no/little clear water above the gunky stuff at the bottom before I either change it completely or dump the tray and let it refill from the jug. This usually lasts 2-3 days before I have to run a brush around the tray & jug and refill with fresh water/ACV.

Of course, this is only in the big coop. The little ones that aren't out there, yet, require a clean-out & refill about twice a day! Yikes! I have 4 more of those! I'll be glad when they're all out there together...

 

[Tweeza]

Quote:
And bugs and mice and frogs and poop and... ewwww...

When my hens are let out in the morning they make a mad dash for the fresh horse poop. There are no horse biscuits in our pasture!

 

[mamaKate]

I only have 2 chickens but the water is pretty simple. They have a 1 qt mason jar wired to the side of the coop and 2 cool whip bowls in the yard. One is at the back so they don't have to cross the dreaded sun puddle when it's hot. I rinse and refill once a day.

 

[babsh]

I must be the lazy one around here. I have a 3 gallon galv waterer (birds). It gets swished and refilled every 3-6 days depending on the weather. In the morning, i pick it up and dump out the water that is in the tray part and allow it to refill itself. I keep it elevated by putting it on a few pieces of wood. It keeps out most of the shavings and poo. Most of the gunk in it is dust from the coop. I do have a couple of small waterers in the run that get changed daily, because they are so small. I thought the advantage of the large waterer was to not have to fill it so much.

 

[Rebekah]

@isabrownmom: I saw your waterer before and LOVE it. However, I'm past the honeymoon phase and have finally put restrictions on myself in regard to spending money on the chickens.

So, from what I've gathered here, chickens are fundamentally vile, filthy little creatures that will turn their beaks up at fresh water but are happy to eat the manure of miscellaneous animals if offered. The flipside to this is that they're also irresistible and endlessly entertaining, so we continue to spoil them with the best of whatever we think they need.

The result of all this education is me placing a 1 gallon waterer [with raw ACV] on a cinder block in the run and another on a shelf in their coop. On the first day, I took a bunch of deep breaths, let them throw all of their dust bathing mess into the tray, and walked away. I'll dump the tray once a day [or so] until the water from the container is gone.

I've decided to let chickens be chickens and not impose any of my excessively clean people habits onto them. Besides, my human children are starting to get jealous of all the attention and $$ being poured upon the feathered children

my coop:

my husband, Justin, and baby Camilla [romance]:

 

[write2caroline]

I offer my chickens water from a regular feeder and I have the hanging avian waterer. They like both. I think that they will drink from wherever there is water whether it is clean or not. I think overall clean is best but I am not foolish to think it is the only way.

Farmers sometimes keep goldfish in the cow troughs to keep them clean.

As long as you keep them watered - and try to keep it clean it should retard most growth and bacteria not to mention bugs. - I would be concerned if maybe frogs started laying eggs in it......just kidding.

I use the back up because we are busy and my kids don't always remember to water all the animals. It is a constant source of AH MOM!!!! They wouldn't drink out of a dirty glass. I just think my kids should hold up the same standards for the pets.

Caroline
Jax FL

 

[Puck-Puck]

Sorry, folks, I didn't check back and see that people were interested in pictures of my set-up! I will attempt to load a couple. While waiting for ImageShack, I will add that if you don't feel like cleaning the pop bottles that your birds have been drinking from, you can just toss the old ones in the recycle bin and use fresh ones.

CLICK TO ENLARGE. Oops, only one wants to enlarge. Ack!

=http://img91.imageshack.us/i/20090...eshack.us/img91/3770/200907270020.th.jpg[/IMG]

I used a soldering iron to melt a hole through the plastic. It was quick and easy.



Sorry, this is through the mesh, because when I went into the coop the chickens mobbed me and the waterer and wanted to be photographed instead! This is the waterer strapped to the wall. It is standing in a cut-off yogurt tub, and the whole thing is on a brick to keep it above the bedding, so the bedding is less likely to be kicked into it.

 

[threehorses]

I dump out the waterers daily for new water, check with my finger for "bioslime" on the inside. If I feel it, I'll wipe it out. I rarely disinfect my waterers unless there's someone sick. Just occassionally to get them all nice looking again. Or I'll use hot water and soap if droppings get in the water.

I go through all of that, and then the hens all drink from the worst water they can find in the yard.

But at least I know they have it there.