keeping water in brooder clean

[melissastraka]

I have decided my water bottle is a lost cause

....it is always full of shavings and i change it every 3-4 hours

 

[Knight Hawk Ranch]

I have had some that were just days old figure out the hanging water bottle, the rabbit drinking type. They see that little silver ball and just have to peck at it and discover water.

 

[NC chicken man]

Try putting a peice of 1/2 plywood under the waterer ,i've got two 7 gal waters in my brooder and i have about a foot and half by foot and a half under and my waterer stays pertty clean.

Aaron

 

[chels23]

For my chicks I put a piece of wood under it. For the adults I use a cement block, this makes it perfect height for them to drink and not get shavings in it.

 

[terri9630]

I have a rabbit water bottle in with my small (2day old) chicks and a nipple waterer in with my older chicks(7wks). They haven't had any problems learning to use them and no more dirty waterers to clean.

 

[WalkingWolf]

I tried the nipple water dispensers with my parrots and not only did the drink they thought it was a toy. Soaked the bottom of the cages constantly. Once the chicks learn to jump, which is soon I use plastic storage containers or the butter tubs filled halfway with rocks to keep them from tipping it over. Twice a day I change the water, instead of constantly with the inverted bottle.

For the grown birds I use 5 gallon buckets with (4) 2 1/2 inch holes drilled around the bucket towards the top, and leave the lid on. They can stick their head in to drink, it keeps the water clean and they can't tip it over. And it can be hung by the handle. To fill just tip to side to empty and put hose in one of the holes. Cheap too the buckets are free. My feeders are also 5 gallon buckets with the holes drilled a little lower. Unless it is a hard wind driven rain the food stays dry and again the buckets are free.

 

[Chicken Downunder]

My friend just the other day saw one of her chicks drinking out of the rabbits nipple drinker. The other chicken with it was apparently fascinated with the bubble going up the bottle!!!!

 

[terri9630]

I had both the rabbit bottle and the regular chick waterer in the cage and they prefered the rabbit bottle so I just took out the chick waterer. Besides keeping the cage cleaner it gives them a bit more room to play. Of course they can no longer play queen of the waterer. I have one chick that was quite upset about loosing her "roost".

 

[Davaroo]

Suspend it at the height of their backs, just high enough for them to reach their beak in and drink.
Add a cone shaped top of some sort to discourage perching on it.

That should do it - no more funky water.

 

[swoop]

i feel your pain - i felt like all i did was change out mucky water - thats if they didnt tip over the bottle in which case i then had to change wet bedding. i tried the wood, stone, raising the height and finally what worked for me - after they were several weeks old was to put the water bottle with the red bottom piece attached into one of my dogs heavy food bowls - this kept alot of the litter out and eliminated spillage, and kept everything cleaner - i made sure the bowl was big enough that the red base just fit in - it was a medium sized bowl. good luck