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

[SimplyForties]

Quote:
Caroline, how does that work? I am an avid fishkeeper (just an animal nut in general), so I happen to know that goldfish are some of the messiest fish to keep, because of the amount of poop they generate.

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Fish in stock tanks are to eat mosquito larvae. At least that's what I've always heard.

 

[NYREDS]

When we still had a flock of sheep the "water" that ran off the barnyard after a rain was dark brown-can't imagine why. The chickens that were running loose seemed to prefer the brown water to the clean water I provided for them. Didn't seem to harm them a bit.
In the old days common barnyard flocks of chickens were known as Dunghills because that's where they found their food.
IMO you can worry much more than you need to about chicken keeping hygiene

 

[kittymuffy]

My water container (galvinized with cover) is sitting on a tire rim, keeps shavings etc where they belong. In the outside run we have hung an old wall hanging parts bin, it's up about 12 inches, gets dirty but they don't walk or poo in it, easily removed for cleaning.

 

[chickerdoodle]

Quote:
My winter plan (once we get our chickens) is to have two of the three gallon water dispensers. I just fill one up in the house and trade with the other one outside once a day. I am going to get one of those heated bases for indoors for those occasional freezes too. This allows me to be lazy and I have two water dispensers in case we go away for the weekend when there is no chance of a freeze!

I believe in the KISS method--Keep It Simple, Stupid!

 

[lamelde]

I too, have been cleaning out waterers thrice daily for my 4 older hens & 5 younger chicks (it'll be sooo nice when they are old enough to join the flock.)

I'm a new egg & bought the hanging/heated 3gal waterer for winter, but the first time I filled it & turned it over - water flowed out everywhere and I was soaked (needless to say - I had to change my clothes when I got back in the house). That's going back & back to store & I'm back at the drawing board.

I used the rabbit/guinea pig bottles with silver balls - they work great in the summer (I read here about bleach - to keep the algea from growing - what about the stuff for fish tanks to kill algea? - would that be safe for chickens?)

I've read so many different ways to water a flock that I'm confused.

My coop is still in the garage - in construction phase - I need all the advice I can get & fast - Winter is nearly here, the older hens are in a tractor, and the chicks are growing faster!

 

[dancingbear]

Trilyn, I really like the nipple waterers. Thanks for posting that, I looked at your byc page and love the way you did those with the plastic pitchers. I'm going to make some for next summer. That'll solve more than one problem. The water will stay clean, the floor will stay dry, and chicks can't drown in them. But I don't know how I'd keep them from freezing in the winter. But in the winter, I seldom have chicks, so at least that part won't matter. (Most of the time. I do have some chicks right now.)

So, for wintertime, I just made this waterer a few days ago. It doesn't do anything to prevent poo getting in the water, but you could set it up on a pair of cinderblocks or something, and that would raise it enough to keep most of the crud out. I'll be doing that myself, as soon as I remember to fetch back another cinderblock from the barn while I'm out and about.

This was made to replace the hated Little Giant 5 gallon plastic waterer, that is a true PITA to use. I got really tired of fighting the badly designed lid, trying to get the thing on straight so it would seal and not dump water all over the floor. And then have it still slowly leak out over night and have wet straw all over in the morning.

I took the pic while the water was still filling, so the holes I drilled in the bucket would be visible.

That odd looking gadget down in the pan is a bird bath de-icer. I've used it for several years in a deeper black rubber feeder pan, to keep the water from freezing. This will be the first year to use the de-icer with other stuff in the pan, the dispenser jug and plastic bucket. I'm hoping it'll work ok, but I may have to keep the water level in the jug lower in freezing weather, so that the de-icer will be enough.

Here's a couple pics that show details:
Here's what you can't see inside the white bucket.

That's a plastic canning funnel, with a few hole drilled in it. That keeps the mouth of the jug off the bottom of the bucket, so the water can flow out more easily. The holes in the funnel just have to be below the rim of the pan that the whole thing will rest in.

I drilled holes in the cap, rather than just remove the cap, for 2 reasons. One, the funnel fits snug over the cap, but falls off without it. Two, the cap slows the water down a little, making it easier to flip the jug over and get it in the bucket without dumping water all over the place.

NOW, THE EASY WAY:
After I did all this, somebody pointed out that I could've just used the white bucket inside the pan. I thought about that, and if you have a tight fitting lid for the bucket, (with a seal/gasket, they're usually like big "O" rings) you could drill holes in the bucket about 5 inches or so down from the top of the bucket, (instead of near the bottom like I did) fill with water to just below the holes, put the lid on, and flip it over to set it upside down in the pan. No funnel, no dispenser jug, easier, cheaper, less awkward.