How do I fix water problem?

[youthpastor]

is it really bad to give them a longer supply of water? I made a 5 gallon waterer, and I've left it for a week. The water's not that dirty and they've only drunk about 1/4 of it so far. Should I change it immediately?

My son wanted to put these two smileys in.

 

[jerryobaby]

My water system is a food-grade 55 gallon drum on it's side on an elevated platform (~2 feet) with a Little Giant poultry fount plumbed into the lower bung with PVC pipe. I only need to fill it ~ once every week to 10 days for 25 layers. Every time I fill it I dose it with bleach at the rate of 20 ml / 50 gallons (I hate mixing metric and english units but that's how the syringe I use to measure the bleach is marked.) I got that rate from some government website for disaster preparedness (how to make water safe to drink). I forget the website address but so far I've had zero mung growth in my water system and the chickens don't seem to mind the taste. I do still have to periodically clean the poopy and feathers and such from the font, though.

 

[sBrickmanHouse]

We have a three gallon waterer in our run, which seems to last our flock of 23 young hens about 3-4 days.

We also keep a one gallon waterer in the coop, changed out every day.

The three gallon waterer in the run, though, tends to get really muddy and gunky with the girls everyday activities. The best thing we've found to keep it fresh and clean is to lift it out of the run every day, swirl the water in the reservoir lip around a couple of times, and dump it out on the ground, allowing it to refill with clean water.

It takes just a bit of practice to swirl the water around in the lip enough to wash the gunk out each day without splashing too much fresh water, but once you get the hang of it, it works really well to keep the water fresh and clear in between total wash and refills.

 

[youthpastor]

i've noticed some people mention that they have multiple waterers. Is it important to have a water source outside as well as inside?

 

[sBrickmanHouse]

Well, at least for us, we've been operating on the theory that it's important to have enough water, but haven't worried too much about where it is.

We made sure to have a waterer in the coop, so that they don't go thirsty when they have to be shut in there, but the outside waterer we just fill and use because we happen to have it. The girls don't really seem to show a preference-- they'll drink from the inside one if they happen to be inside, or the outside one if they happen to be in the run.

They probably would be just fine with the one gallon inside waterer, as long as it were filled every day.

 

[Kerry]

Based upon the watering problems posted here I bought a auto dog waterer ($10) for my under-construction PVC chicken tractor. It fits on a hose-threaded bib cock and the dog (chicken) is supposed to nudge the protruding stainless steel nozzle aside and water drips out.

I bought a 1/2" pipe threaded bung w/washers ($12) and a 1/2" pipe thread-to-hose adapter. Drilled a 1 1/8" hole at the bottom-side of a 5-gal bucket and threaded the auto waterer into the bung. The options are to have the nozzle pointing horizontally, slanted downward, or straight down. I think a 1/2" elbow pointing down is best.

Anyone have any luck training barred rocks (just 4) to drink this way?

With aloha,

Kerry

Update: One year after posting the above and the following instructions on how to make it: Watering nozzle .

it's still working perfectly.

 

[stephys_fluffybutts]

I use Apple cider vinager. Not that fake stuff, but the brown kind. I pour a cap full of the vinager to every 3 gallons.

I wouldn't know about bleach

But the vinager is good to keep the gunk from growing and we clean it only once a day or every other day.
Plus it aids with absorbing calcium.
It also helps if you add any vitamin stuff in the water. we all know how vitamins inhibits yucky growth :-D

It seems to work here, but with the ducks around who knows what will happen ;-)

 

[ella]

Unfortunately you don't want to use either bleach or ACV in metal waterers because it will corrode them. :|

 

[jessica117]

I was going to suggest the ACV also but I use the plastic waterers. I don't know if this would work, but I suppose it would be worth a try.

Copper is supposed to be a natural antimicrobial so you could possibly put a small piece of copper tubing inside the reservoir. I really don't know that it would work but that was the only thing I could think of that wouldn't cause corrosion.

On the subject of ACV though. You have to be careful when you buy it, I actually found some on the shelf that was plain old white vinegar with coloring and artificial apple flavoring. I was just floored.

 

[stephys_fluffybutts]

Hmm never herd of using copper. I just use plastic waterers. I have one metal waterer but I have never used it yet. Id rather just use metal ones for food. I don't like things rusting.


About the Apple Cider Vinager. Yeah that is a problem. Make sure it is real.

I even pour a few cap fulls into my mini duck pond. It keeps the algea down. It is the worst in summer and that gooey gunk gets in crevices. It helps greatly with it.