Is it necessary to change water daily?

[bigoakhunter]

My younger birds have a 1 gal. waterer in the run and one in the coop. These get refilled every day. The big layer coop and run have a 3 gal. waterer in run that gets changed every 2 days and a 1 gal. waterer in coop that gets changed every day. I scrub out the waterers once a week. Otherwise I high power/spray them out.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
I would gently disagree with the whole spread of disease through the waterers and about "if you wouldn't drink out of it, clean it". My family have been raising chickens for generations and we've never cleaned out the waterers daily, nor would we take a sip out of a waterer even if it had been freshly bleached and cleaned.

These are chickens, folks...they eat their own feces when picking through the bedding. They drink out of any mudhole, seep, source of water they encounter. Wild birds are also drinking out of these sources. The fallacy that wild birds are going to give our flocks disease is something the government would like us to believe...this gives them a reason to ban backyard flocks such as ours.

I've never...I repeat, never had any diseases in my flocks in all these long years. I've kept waterers in the coop and outside, do the swish, rinse and fill and occasionally get the gumption to soap and bleach all water containers on the property...but not often.

You can take that cleanliness too far when it comes to animals and even people. A bird with a healthy immune system shouldn't have any problems being exposed to normal pathogens encountered in the outside environment. In fact, its necessary for them to have these exposures to build antibodies for a healthy immune system.

Its enough to provide fresh water in a reasonably clean vessel, daily if needed but every other day if not. I've seen the birds walk right past the sparkly clean water and drink from a muddy hoofprint.

Just use common sense and you shouldn't have to worry!

 

[redhen]

In the summer, YES. They need cool, fresh water DAILY.. or even more.
just like we do...

 

[NonnasBabies]

Quote:

This is SO true!!

When it's dirty I clean it. When it's almost empty I fill it!!

Missi

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I have a 5 gallon and a 2 gallon double walled metal fount in my run. Also in the coops I have water sources.

The outside water gets refilled and sprayed out every 3rd day for the 5 gal., every day for the 2 gal.. The inside water gets refilled and sprayed out every day, because it really needs it.

I bleach probably twice a year, and scrub with soap about once a week. Works for me! If I saw a really filthy situation, I would remedy it right away.

 

[Mommi3130]

We fill and clean out daily, not sanitize but keep them clean.

 

[Brody's Broodello]

Well we have anywhere from 100 to 300 birds here. The birds in cages or breeding stalls get the water changed everday, with the summer temps being 105 today along, they get changed twice a day to give fresh cool water to the birds. Caged birds with water cups get fresh water 2x a day, old water is dumped out. The dozen or so that free range get fresh 2x a day also. It takes awhile about 2 hours to feed & water, but the birds are worth it! They reward us by winning at the shows, bringing in an income to help feed the rest of the farm. And yes if you wouldn't drink it, why should they! The fresher the water the healthier they will be.

 

[kla37]

It's hot here in NC and I clean the waterers daily (rinse them at least-and with hot water and soap and scrubbing if the inside of the bases feel slimy) and float frozen blocks in them to keep the water cool. Have a small one inside the coop and a big one in the run. Also put ACV in the water.

 

[laughaha]

I use the cheap rigid plastic kiddie pools- which work GREAT for large numbers of chickens. I like the smaller ones which hold over 50 gallons of water I think (comparing it to my 55 gal aquarium). The smaller ones are much easier to dump than the larger ones. I have one of the larger ones for the geese and its a pita to dump. The chickens easily perch on the sides and get a drink. I dump and hose out every couple of days or so, but I leave the algae that manages to hang on to the sides of the pools. People are ACTUALLY drinking algea water and paying alot for it so I stopped spending hours every week scrubbing out the pools after every water change and I've had no problems. If you think about it, algae is a plant that eats the yucky bacterias and gross stuff. I don't allow the water to go stagnate or get gross (which can happen pretty fast with 2 geese).

Edited to add- the algae is just on the sides, once the water itself looks dirty or old it gets dumped. Averages out to every other day or so.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

You don't have to change the water every day. But it should be kept relatively clean and out of the sun. Algae happens. I've never seen a stock watering tank that did not have algae in it. At this time of year I rinse and refill all of my poultry waterers twice a week. Three times if it's particularly hot. In the chick brooder I do rinse and refill the waterers every day and scrub them weekly but that's because even using water platforms they still manage to get at least a little bedding into their water.

If you have the time and only a handful of birds I suppose it wouldn't take much time to rinse and fill waterers every day. I've got too many birds for that so twice a week suffices.