need ideas for homemade biddy waterers

[dadsgirl]

does any one have any ideas for homemade waterers for newly hatched chicks?

thanks, angie

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

You can buy one that fits on a quart jar for about $2.
I doubt you can make one for less than that.

 

[onthespot]

If it is just a few biddies you can put something like a plastic peanut butter jar lid upside down, fill it with marbles and then top it off with water. It does not last long and you need to rinse it out a couple times a day because they walk all over it and get food and poop in with the marbles and water, and with the marbles in there there is not much room for more than a tablespoon of water. Just keep that in mind as far as how often you need to change it. Also, if it is near the light, it will just warm up and evaporate in a couple hours. The secredt is to keep it far enough from the heater light to stay cool, but not so far away that the chicks don't want to go to some place in the brooder that feels chilly to them. Also, I bleach those marbles out, right there in the lid every other day or so, just to cut yookie bacteria from building up. It is not an easy waterer, but it is about free if you hae some marbles. It is a lot of work, but it works great for a few days while they learn to drink.

 

[patandchickens]

Because it's real important that the chicks and their bedding don't get soaked from spills, I use a commercial 1-gal plastic waterer ($6 Canadian, probably cheaper in the States) with glass marbles in the drinking part to prevent drowning.

And then you have the 1-gal waterer to use as they grow, and it is extremely handy to just have around (like for a hen that has to be isolated, or to let you put an extra waterer out on a hot day, or like that).

Really, it's a couple bucks WELL spent, if you ask me.

(e.t.a. - is it just me, or doesn't 'biddy' usually mean a *hen*?)

JMHO, good luck,

Pat

 

[jhudson]

I have all my chickens and chicks on a nipple drinker system. 1 nipple per 15 birds or so. It is hooked up to a 50 gal drum. I only have to fill it about ever 6 weeks.