keeping water in brooder clean

[jennmugg]

I have one of those auto chick waterers with the round red plastic tray in my brooder. I have to keep dumping the water a few times a day because they keep flinging their bedding into it. Should I raise it up somehow? I thought about suspending it from the top of the brooder, but I'm afraid it will swing around if they bump into it and make the cage all wet.

 

[LynneP]

Try putting it up on bricks or something similar. Oh they can foul up a waterer in seconds!

 

[Big dreams]

The feed store told me not to hang the waterer because it will mess up the seal, it will work for awhile but weeken and start to leak... he said set it on bricks as well. I do and it makes a big difference.

 

[TheOLDNewChick]

You could sit it up on something...
though if your little rascals are anything like mine, they'll still manage to mess it up.

I can't get mine to stop turning theirs over.

 

[Autumn Mama]

Well, just today I raised mine up on 2 x 3's and what a difference! It's only been 6 hours, but with my 3 week olds, I was needing to empty and refill *every* hour due to pine shaving tea they were brewing, lol! They kicked stuff up into it (before raising it) sooo fast and filled the plastic trough in a minute or two!

Will change it once before I go to sleep, and see how it's doing in the morning!

Now I have to do the same for their feeder, apparently....

pine. shavings. everywhere. sigh.

these gals should have nooo problem foraging outside!

 

[Sissy]

I have 21 fuzzy butts in the brooder in the bathroom
it stays steady at 76 degrees.
also have a heat lamp on them
and the water is a mess even with a 2 hour change.all day long.
and at 3 in the a.m.I will try a larger piece of wood to raise it higher. I think they want to be dancers not layers..LOL
they have flying feet, I guess it comes with the territory LOL

 

[Kim_NC]

For the first 2 weeks, I set the waterer up on a folded kitchen towel...raises it just enough to keep bedding from being kicked in.

Once they get to 2 weeks, then I switch to setting the waterer up on bricks. Rarely do I have any bedding kicked into the waterer, and it's just the right height for them at that age.

 

[treeclimber233]

Can chicks be trained to drink out of a nipple system? I am thinking about trying that when I get my babies next week. Some of my adult birds are drinking out of nipples. They learned very quickly.

 

[ams3651]

when I had my chicks I improvised with something like a mac and cheese box to set it on. Just lifted it about 2 inches but made a big difference.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
yes.