NEED HELP- Chickens without water for two days

[kingme]

Hi all,

I have an issue I need help with. My flock ran out of water this week, I don't know for sure how long but I am guessing two days, I was traveling for work and the water didn't get changed. I filled the waterer with cool fresh water and the poor girls stood around and drank for a long time. I feel horrible about this. One girl seemed to go broody right afterword, but now she is fine, but I have not seen an egg for three days. I have seven girls, the day it happened we got one egg, then nothing for three days. I have been changing their water everyday since and along with their normal food, I have been supplementing some worms and things.

My question: Is this normal? Will they start laying again soon? I guess I really got spoiled getting 5-7 eggs a day without giving it any thought and then nothing...I am currently working on an automatic watering system so this will never happen again. Any thoughts are appreciated...

 

[NurseELB]

They'll probably be fine. Scary thing, though. I'm gonna look into that automatic watering so I don't have to worry so much when I go out of town.

 

[M@M@2four]

I'm sure they'll be fine...just thirsty!

When chickens are shipped in the mail, many times it take 2 days for them to get to their destination and they have no water in transit, so they just arrive thirsty. Give them a week or so to get back into the routine of things as far as the eggs go!

 

[jamesrm]

The shallow dish stall waterers from TSC work wonders. If you have them indoors or the waterer in a coop just build a catch/drain basin for it to sit on to avoid splash and muddy floors.

 

[sandy sea]

I keep several large water bowls filled and one of those big waterers in the coop. I also have pot bellied pigs that live in the same area as the chickens so I have several small pools full of water around the yard. The chicken will drink from the pools. It works.

 

[Debob]

Just keep spoiling them,they will be fine-you- maybe not -just kidding. It was not really your fault,things happen. They will keep giving you eggs,as long as you keep spoiling them.

 

[exbiologist]

Don't forget, eggs are mostly water. And they need a lot to keep laying. They'll get back to it soon.

 

[kingme]

Thanks for the replies. I am happy to report we got two eggs today. Hopefully the rest will start laying again soon. I am looking into geting an auto waterer, the water nipple set up so this won't happen in the future...

 

[bantam_n00b]

Quote:
Hey youre from merced? Cool me too. But yeah they should be fine, but it sure has been getting hot here lately.

 

[elmo]

Just a suggestion...even with an automatic watering system, it's good to have a back up. Two sources of water are safer than one. It's the belt and suspenders approach.