Is anyone else noticing how much their chickens are drinking?

[fried green eggs]

We have been feeling the Arctic blast of cold temps and I can't believe how much my birds are drinking. I use 5 gallon pails with nipples and each bucket has a low wattage (45 - 90 watt) bird bath heater and they are not freezing even with night temps getting down to 0 F.

My waters normally only need to be filled every 5 -7 days. Since this weather hit they are eating and drinking 3x as much

. At least they seem happy and comfortable even though they are choosing to spend little time out in their runs each day.

 

[Mygirls20]

Uh same with my chickens. I live in the mountains of CO. We had a week of horribly cold temps. I was only filling my water up once every week and then went to once every other day. You would think they would want to eat more and drink less but it seems (at least to me so far) that they eat less and drink more water.

 

[fried green eggs]

I have feeders that hold 50# of feed and it should last a week plus but, it is only last 3 days right now.

 

[Mygirls20]

good lord lol. Ya I am hoping they will slow down when it starts getting warmer and the bugs come out.

 

[JackE]

I have feeders that hold 50# of feed and it should last a week plus but, it is only last 3 days right now.

You sure those chickens ain't having some "Help" eating their food. Sounds like a heckova increase. My birds have picked up a bit, and they are using more water to wash it down, but it's not that much more.
Jack

 

[Mygirls20]

how many chickens do you have?

 

[GrinningRedHead]

Their muscles need plenty of water to stay healthy and warm. Just like humans need plenty of water to help maintain our systems. The colder we get the faster we dehydrate, just like the hotter we get we sweat and need more hydration. To help our bodies to maintain good internal "survival" temperatures we need to keep up nutrition levels and that includes water.



Is your water purified/filtered? Perhaps there is a mineral also in the water their little bodies are craving more in super cold temps., and drinking bunches of water is satisfying that supplement need? *just a side thought*

 

[centrarchid]

When all else equal, my birds consume less water per unit of feed consumed as temperature drops. At higher temperatures some of the water ingested or generated by metabolism of food is used for evaporative cooling / panting which is not needed when temperature low.

Free-range birds I have can go for extended periods, days if not weeks, without access to drinking water. Apparently all water they need can be derived from forage. When food intake dominated by feed and grains, water needs appear to increase and birds walk a couple hundred feet further to drinking water in pond or little stream. I can use tracks around water edge to see when they visit. They will still go after open water when set where they do not have to go far.

Feeds we use have a lot less moisture than forages obtained from free-ranging.

Chicks seem to have much higher demand for water and hen will take them to it at least once a day, usually in morning.

 

[curiositykt]

What kind of heater are you using, this one? http://www.amazon.com/9000-Eliminat...UTF8&colid=UCO298SXG3HV&coliid=I104HMH2XCRQUN

http://www.amazon.com/Farm-Innovato...d=1359047117&sr=8-2&keywords=Bird+bath+heater this one also is an option, but I wonder if the extra 15 dollars for the one above is going to make all the difference.

I need a new one as my aquarium heater failed in this bout of 0 degree weather.

 

[bucky52]

Mine are just the opposite they are eating and drinking less.getting a few eggs.but that's OK.i have just did my follow up on worming.