My chickens (small flock - 4 girls) - seem to be obsessed with drinking the nastiest water they can find. I completely clean and fill their water dispenser with clean water every morning, but they're only interested in that water if they can't find anything else. If there's rain runoff, they find it. If I hose all the chicken poop off the patio, they'll flock to any leftover poop-infested puddles. My husband has a small fountain pond in the backyard, and I put a chicken wire screen over it to prevent them from drinking out of it. They apparently figured out how to pull the screen off, and this morning when I opened their pen, they made a beeline for it.
My main waterer is one of those big green plastic Eglu ones that mounts on a wall (which is nice because they don't poop in it). But I thought maybe they don't like the container, so I've tried more traditional chicken waterers, and even just big dog bowls. I've tried moving the waterer to different locations, thinking they just didn't like the spot it was in. Apple cider vinegar doesn't seem to phase them. No matter what, they prefer whatever dirty water they can find around the yard. I would just write that off as standard gross chicken behavior, but it seems I'm always battling bouts of diarrhea in my flock, and I assume it's the water because the vet can't find any other reason.
Do any of you have any tips? Something to add to the clean water to make them like it? Some kind of waterer with a fountain or bubbler? A certain color or type of material for the waterer they might like better? I'm tired of spending money on new feeders and waterers they don't like, and I always get so many good ideas from the experienced people in this forum. Who has had some experience with this?
My main waterer is one of those big green plastic Eglu ones that mounts on a wall (which is nice because they don't poop in it). But I thought maybe they don't like the container, so I've tried more traditional chicken waterers, and even just big dog bowls. I've tried moving the waterer to different locations, thinking they just didn't like the spot it was in. Apple cider vinegar doesn't seem to phase them. No matter what, they prefer whatever dirty water they can find around the yard. I would just write that off as standard gross chicken behavior, but it seems I'm always battling bouts of diarrhea in my flock, and I assume it's the water because the vet can't find any other reason.
Do any of you have any tips? Something to add to the clean water to make them like it? Some kind of waterer with a fountain or bubbler? A certain color or type of material for the waterer they might like better? I'm tired of spending money on new feeders and waterers they don't like, and I always get so many good ideas from the experienced people in this forum. Who has had some experience with this?
