My waterer just sucks!!!!

[cece4]

I bought one of those red chicken waterers you put a mason jar on.It gets full of crap and pineshavings in just a few hours.Whats the point of having all that water in the mason jar if I have to keep dumping out all the pineshavings and stuff...I have the waterer on a brick above the pine but they still kick it all in.I also have clean rocks in the water to stop drowning.
BTW they are only chicks, around one week old.Is there any better way to water them?

 

[Bettacreek]

Try using an 8oz water bottle for hamsters. At that age, they should be just fine using it.

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

You may want to get a quail waterer top to go on it; I have one, it conserves water, it lowers the shavings in it, and they don't drown when they are one and two and three days old.

 

[mudmonkey]

I'm not sure what type of quail you have but I have 1 week old button quail. Unfortunately they don't seem to peck hard enough for the hamster water bottle to work.
I just got one and found that they do like to peck it (it's shiny) but nothing happens.

I'm not sure if that will be true of larger breeds of quail though.

 

[Bettacreek]

Button quail should be just fine with it at a week old. I've started them off at a few days, and others have said that they started them right off the bat on the bottles. They're really not supposed to be "pecking hard enough" to get the water. There should be a little bit of water at the end, and once they peck, they should get that drop. Once they are familiar with it, they won't peck, but stick their beak "into" it and just drink. Make sure that the bottle is no larger than 8oz, and see if you can get a drip to form on the end of it. I've always used the cheap-o ones at walmart, and have never had an issue. Maybe some of the other brands are harder for them to use.

 

[cece4]

They are jumbo Coturnix.I happen to have an old hamster water bottle and stuck in the bin but dont know if they are using it.Should I take out the old waterer? Is pne enough for 28 babies? Will they use this size bottle when they are older too?

Thanks Cece

 

[mudmonkey]

Thanks for the info. I'll try to see if it will drip. It would be too ironic if buying the cheaper bottle would have worked better.

 

[optic1]

My chicks did that with those waterers. I had the little quail waterers so went back to those. I put down some 1/4" x 1/4" wire mesh under it. The whole piece was about 16" x 12" to cover up the area quite a bit. It has to be cleaned and brushed off every few days but it seems better.

So I watched, .......... they ran right over the screen and drank. Then they turned around and stuck their little pooper against the waterer and pooped. So I watched this cycle. Drink, turn around, poop, repeat. Too funny. Some chips got in it but the next wave of thirsty chickies just used their beaks to move the debris out of the way.

So I guess their like my golden retrievers:
Eat, drink, spin, poop, repeat.
Eat, drink, spin, poop, repeat.
Eat, drink, spin, poop, repeat.
Eat, drink, spin, poop, repeat.