My chicken watering solution

[breakout]

Great! Sounds like you're on top of all that and that's interesting that you're deliberately growing the algae. How do you make sure it's a kind that's good for your chickens? Are you growing green or red? Actually my wife tells me she's been looking into it -- do you have any good links? Since you're interested in such things do you know about black soldier flies? We just started working with them and it seems like a great way of turning waste human food into heathy grub (literally!) for the chickens. http://www.blacksoldierflyfarming.com/

 

[karlamaria]

I'm going to be doing duck weed, and know it will be a success lol. I have had fish tanks for years, very large and small, and every one had live plants in it. I know from experience that duck weed that gets in grows like wild fire. I used to throw 2 cups a day away from just one of my large tanks. I'm going to start a few tanks up this fall, I know that using cfls works awesome, and I also have several plant grow lights so I will keep updated here how things are going. Not heard about the flys, it's so cold here most of the year so bugs are out. No bugs indoors lol. Wish we could but we tried and some got loose. Ever had a cricket under your water bed? Wow so annoying hee hee hee

 

[breakout]

System is working well. Added an deck umbrella we had around over the unit to keep the sun off it.

 

[Chicken Techie]

the best way to keep your waterer clean is to add lugols iodine to it. all living things need iodine. the military has been useing it for years to purify water. there are no draw backs to useing it for your chickens and ducks and it isn't expensive. I haven't needed to clean my waterer (see my link below for the write up) in almost a year since useing iodine. i personally take iodine every day, same stuff i give my chickens and ducks and i have 67 feathered friends who are all very happy. the water smells nice and clean and i have no slimyness on the inside. my reservoir has a 13 gallon capacity and i would drink from it if i needed to. hope this helps someone.

 

[tp70731]

Those look amazing! (and complicated

I chose to go the easy route and not build my own. I only have 4 hens and 1 rooster so 2 gallons was enough for me.

Here is the link if anyone is interested

http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Waterer-Dual-Nipple-System-Birds/dp/B00EMDEOLC/ref=sr_1_64?ie=UTF8&qid=1381175000&sr=8-64&keywords=chicken+waterer

 

[moms3cuties]

Well the system seems to be working well. The only problem I have had is keeping the water clean. Since it's in an aquarium it's very obvious when the water starts to get a little cloudy or funky. Initially I was using apple cider vinegar (Bragg's) partly because I often take it myself and liked the idea of the chickens having some since people seemed to think it was good for them. Trouble is I think it could be a problem with my system because things seem to start growing in the tank even with a complete change out of the water once a week. Maybe good (healthy?) things if the "mother" is still active but I'm concerned that they might clog up the relatively narrow hose leading from the acquarium to the nipples or possible clog the nipples thenselves. So we're trying our homemade collodial silver -- about half a dropper per quart of water. So far this seems to be keeping the water clear and based on our experience it would be good for the chickens. Has anyone else used this?

do you still use your homemade colloidal silver to help keep the algae down? For your chickens?

 

[breakout]

Yes, the silver works great. We still keep the tank mostly covered from the light though also.

 

[crazyhen]

I have a bunch or questions for you all. How long does it take to wean the chickens from pans of water to the nipple system and how do you do it. My health is bad and not having to scrub and carry heavy buckets of water would be nice. Also the water gets terribly dirty during the day and really needs changing twice if possible right now. Another question I have 25 hens how many of the nipples do they need.

 

[breakout]

The chickens will learn to use the nipples quickly. Here's an earlier post I did:
I think the best bet is to take their water away when you put them to bed and then encourage them to explore the nipples with no other water available in the morning -- take away their normal water long enough for them to be thirsty. Throw enough scratch or whatever to get them over by the nipples or call them if that will do it. Sit and tap the nipples so the water drips out. Usually they seem to be curious enough to investigate that sooner or later one will take a peck at it and then realize "OH MY GOD THERE'S WATER IN THAT THING!!!" Then the others see the first one drinking and it's the usual "'WHAT DID YOU FIND --I WANT IT!!!" At least that was my experience. I did see a couple people say they put a little peanut butter on the tip of the nipple to get them interested.........Depending on your set-up I would think about 8 nipples would be right for 25 chickens. As you saw I liked setting up an indoor tank to avoid having to carry water outside. If you set up something like that ask for PVC that is safe for drinking water. If a hose is involved use one made for an ice maker or for RV drinking water NOT a normal garden hose which is likely toxic. Other posts.......
We don't keep water in the coop at night unless it's really hot. The birds are out all day running around the yard until they are ready to sleep and they drink from a chicken nipple waterer fed from the house. If temps are going to be below freezing overnight we add some hot water to the tank and run it out the pipe before bed. If it's going into the 20s we throw a blanket over it. This seems to be working fine. The chickens go for water in the morning but they rarely seem to be anxious about getting there. In the summer we can easily add ice to the tank. Adding some collodial silver and covering the tank so that it doesn't get light work well to prevent algae growth....................................................
Yes I've read of people having problems with nipples from Ebay, China etc. Following are the ones I got and have had no problem
http://www.qcsupply.com/farm-livestock/waterers/nipple-waterers/420006-poly-threaded-body-nipple.html
The Farmtek ones seem good but the shipping cost is high. I used an 11/32" bit and it was a tight fit into the PVC pipe. I put the nipple in my portable drill to help it get started. It might (?) have helped if I wet the threads. I used plumbers tape....BTW you cannot use normal hose pressure with nipples..........if you want to go the pre-made bucket route these are BPA free http://cheerychicks.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5 ...............................reight of nipples: from what I've read the nipples should be at a height where the bird has to reach up a little to drink -- this way the water goes down their throat. And they should be set at the height for your TALLEST chicken. Then put pavers, bricks, wood under some of the nipples to make the height right for the smaller birds. For this system the nipples are 19" off the ground for the leghorns and the we put two pavers for the smaller ISAs. Both use both anyway...............nipples are the standard method in the poultry industry -- no industry would use a method that would decrease production when other methods were easily available. Our birds not only drink from them -- they shower! By which I mean they take a mouthful and preen themselves with it -- you can see their feathers getting wet

FarmTek bucket video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfv_A00rTgk

 

[crazyhen]

Thankyou for the good reply. I will be looking up all that and will try them on it soon.