How do you leave water for your chickens?

[Tonyroo]

I bought a five gallon double wall galvanized waterer like the pic below but I'm constantly having to "burp" it or it doesn't keep the reservoir full. The reservior also gets really dirty even though it's about a foot off the ground.

I tried a bucket that I just kept full, but with so many mosquitos as it is, I opted out of that method pretty quickly.

What do you all use that actually works and doesn't invite mosquitos? Does anyone have a simple idea that works?

I also can't afford a new system and can't build a DIY one with parts and glue and all by myself right now so if you recommend one with the water nipples, that's good to know but I can't do it right now.

What did people do before there were fancy waterers?

View attachment 2771585

When your using a sealed container and need it to flow, the container requires air exchange. So drilling quarter inch holes on top or the top sides is required.

With the plastic bucket, you can drill a 2 inch hole on the lid and gorilla glue a wire mesh over the hole for refill and air exchange. And attach the nipples or cups to the bottom.

 

[K0k0shka]

I use an open container (flower planter actually) that holds about a day's worth of water. Then every day when I go check on the chickens, I bring a small bucket of water and change whatever water is left in the planter waterer. Dump it, rinse a bit if it got dirty, and refill from the bucket. This takes care of the mosquito problem. Mosquito eggs hatch in 24 to 48 hours but need to be in water. So if you dump the water daily, they'll dry out on the ground where you dumped and won't get a chance to hatch. If I have to go away and there's nobody to refill the water daily for me (something that hasn't happened yet), I have a large plastic waterer, the kind with a screw on dish that you flip upside down, that holds several days' worth of water and is cheap and very low maintenance.

 

[RubyLady]

I use an open container (flower planter actually) that holds about a day's worth of water. Then every day when I go check on the chickens, I bring a small bucket of water and change whatever water is left in the planter waterer. Dump it, rinse a bit if it got dirty, and refill from the bucket. This takes care of the mosquito problem. Mosquito eggs hatch in 24 to 48 hours but need to be in water. So if you dump the water daily, they'll dry out on the ground where you dumped and won't get a chance to hatch. If I have to go away and there's nobody to refill the water daily for me (something that hasn't happened yet), I have a large plastic waterer, the kind with a screw on dish that you flip upside down, that holds several days' worth of water and is cheap and very low maintenance.

Thanks!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I have a old sparkletts water cooler container that I added nipples too, it holds 5 gallon, no spills and it stays clean. It sit on a cinder block.

And have 3 folgers coffee containers around my yard for open source water.

They use all of them.

Are you able to keep the water cold in the cooler container? That would be amazing if the water would stay cool. It's so hot and humid here in NC. Some of my girls are miserable even with a fan and foot soaks in the middle of the day

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I use the plastic bell shaped drinkers from feed stores. Like stated before, I don't have any problems unless they're not level and sitting the right way. As long as they're level, there's nothing finicky about them. If it's not level, as long as the spout is sitting where the water isn't at a constant drip, there are no problems. It's pretty obvious fairly quickly if there's going to be a problem. I also have one of the smaller "Hen Hydrators" which is nipples on a sealed bucket. The HH is fine but if we experienced extreme temps in the winter, the leaking could be problematic. It's not a constant drip, but it does drip whenever they're using it. It's more obvious on my white bird. I like to change my water every day. I've came outside to find a dry drinker and that was like a punch in the gut (which I would have deserved) so changing the water everyday solves this problem. I know what you mean about mosquitoes as I'm in NC and they're awful here. I like to add Oxine AH to the water every few days and that helps with larvae, slime, etc. The plastic drinkers are coming up on 3 years old and I only have one that's ruined. It was cracked during a bad hail storm that's definitely not a normal occurrence here. I'm sure I can seal it and continue to use it but I just retired it for now

 

[Oh my chickens]

I bought a five gallon double wall galvanized waterer like the pic below but I'm constantly having to "burp" it or it doesn't keep the reservoir full. The reservior also gets really dirty even though it's about a foot off the ground.

I tried a bucket that I just kept full, but with so many mosquitos as it is, I opted out of that method pretty quickly.

What do you all use that actually works and doesn't invite mosquitos? Does anyone have a simple idea that works?

I also can't afford a new system and can't build a DIY one with parts and glue and all by myself right now so if you recommend one with the water nipples, that's good to know but I can't do it right now.

What did people do before there were fancy waterers?

View attachment 2771585

We have a plastic 3 gallon water that sits on feet. It does get filled twice a day. But they prefer the puddles the mister system leaves in the yard. We used the cups and old coffee containers but they don’t like that.

 

[Buzzard Hill Chickens]

Oh the heat is horrible. We are in gnat zone here in Southern Georgia.

I know what you mean. We're in south east Alabama, and the gnats are outrageous this year for some reason.

 

[catballou]

T

I'm not even sure I've ever seen actual holes. It's just the double wall thing and there's a little metal pice that "hooks" the outer cover to the inner bucket/pan piece. There's also some kind of vertical metal band inside that seems to keep some miniscule space between the walls. I think the idea that it needs to be level might be the problem. It's never level so I'm going to fix that. In the meantime I found this amazing history of waterers and will probably devise my own without having to spend any money that I don't have.

waterer history

That's awesome!
I bought a 3 gallon waterer from TSC but it's so hard to take apart and put together every other day with arthritis in my hands!
The chicks make a mess and it doesn't hang straight which is driving me nuts!

 

[catballou]

I use the plastic bell shaped drinkers from feed stores. Like stated before, I don't have any problems unless they're not level and sitting the right way. As long as they're level, there's nothing finicky about them. If it's not level, as long as the spout is sitting where the water isn't at a constant drip, there are no problems. It's pretty obvious fairly quickly if there's going to be a problem. I also have one of the smaller "Hen Hydrators" which is nipples on a sealed bucket. The HH is fine but if we experienced extreme temps in the winter, the leaking could be problematic. It's not a constant drip, but it does drip whenever they're using it. It's more obvious on my white bird. I like to change my water every day. I've came outside to find a dry drinker and that was like a punch in the gut (which I would have deserved) so changing the water everyday solves this problem. I know what you mean about mosquitoes as I'm in NC and they're awful here. I like to add Oxine AH to the water every few days and that helps with larvae, slime, etc. The plastic drinkers are coming up on 3 years old and I only have one that's ruined. It was cracked during a bad hail storm that's definitely not a normal occurrence here. I'm sure I can seal it and continue to use it but I just retired it for now

What is oxine AH?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

What is oxine AH?

https://www.shagbarkbantams.com/the-many-uses-of-oxine-ah-animal-health/