Knocking over water and feed and making a mess!! HELP

[Dawneebird]

I have four chickens in a run attached to their coop. They are now about 20 - 25 weeks old. Recently, they started knocking over their water and dumping their food. I tried haning their water but now they just push it and all the water sloshes out! Maybe I am not hanging it high enough. Little devils. LOL. Now the ground in their run is not mud but not dry and there is feed ground into it!! How do I solve this problem and how do I clean it. They have more then the recommended square footage! UGH! Thanks so much.

 

[jewel1]

I was told never to hang water because chickens will do exactly what yours are (knocking it and splashing it all over the place).

I personally use a fairly large, sturdy round plastic waterer with a trough at the bottom like the one in the pic here....and I rest it on a stack of cinder blocks so it's raised up about 4 inches from ground level. I also put it in a lower-traffic area of the run. It's heavy enough when filled not to easily tip over. They do throw stuff into the trough from time to time..but not too bad and it's easily cleaned when it happens.





Hope that helps

 

[mickey328]

We use a flat, round plastic dish for their water; it's about 12" across and place it in a corner so they don't walk over it much, and because of the size, even when they do, it rarely tips. For feeders, we use the little plastic gizmos that you screw a quart jar into. First we screwed the bottom of it to a piece of plywood that's about 16" x 8" or so...it was just a piece we had laying around. It provides enough stability that they pretty much can't knock it over and what gets spilled lands on the board rather than on the ground so it's easier for them to find and eat.

 

[Dawneebird]

Thanks so much jewel1!! I had my feeder on a stainless bowl turned upside down for a while and that did work for a short time. I am going to try it again but put it in another corner that is less used. I had it right by the door and they all like to congregate there. I will try something a little higher as well.

Thanks for the great idea about the feeder mickey 328!! I am going to try that tomorrow!!

Dawneebird

 

[Cochaura]

Are there plenty of spaces for roosting and perching? Ours liked to stand on their feeder and waterer, but once they we added more areas for them to stand on, they seemed to quit standing on their food and water. We also got a sturdy waterer, put it on a solid block, and that has helped.

 

[KnobbyOaks]

After trial and error, over and over again, I finally have my set up where they can do least damage. I too have a large plastic red and white waterer up on 4" of bricks. That seems to be perfect height to get it out of the traffic and keep it cleaner. I had tried to hang it higher and build a step up to it but most of them couldn't find the water. As for the feed, have it hanging on a long chain which I have to do to keep the ants out of it. Someone on the forum suggested an optimal height at height of chicken's back. Sometimes they run "through" it but it doesn't spill out. Turn a large funnel upside down on top of the feeder with chain running through it to keep them off the top of it.

 

[portlandfarmer]

I also place the food and water containers on bricks. They have stopped pooping in it since then. We had an issue with cocci because due to bacteria in the water. Beware!

 

[hollys chooks]

Perhaps something fixed to the wall of the coop or the run?
There are lots of ideas on the forum, there are some very clever chicken people out there. Have a search through.
My girls free range in the back yard and I was having problems with the wild bird eating the food and my chooks knocking food out of their dish.
I found this solution https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/building-a-treadle-chicken-feeder
and built this



Not sure that this will help you but they are a lot less messy now, the deeper feeder means they can't knock the feed out and the weight of it means they can't knock it over.

 

[KnobbyOaks]

Yikes, how does that feeder work? If the chicken on the step steps off, then does the chicken on the other side (not on the step) get hit in the head with the lid?

But I agree that is a very clever feeder.

 

[DMRippy]

I use nipples for the water, keep the water clean. They can make it drip on the bedding. My feeders are attached to the wall, they are homemade, some with 4" PVC pipe and a container for the feed to fall in. Some of my feeders are built in feeders and they can only get to the feed and not the container.