Pine Shavings in My Water: Advice

[deebs]

Hey folks,
This may seem like a silly question... but my chicks are SLOBS. They find some way of either filling the shallow mouth of the water bowl with feed or now that I have switched their bedding to pine shavings they fill nit up with pine shavings. In either case it means if I don't go swamp it out every few hours they aren't drinking. Do any of you know a way to keep the waterer free from debris? I am using a round shallow waterer with a plastic quart jug attached to the top. Any advice you could give me would be a big help!

 

[crossgirl]

I turned a bowl upside down and set the waterer on top and that solved most of the pine shaving problem. They still like to stick their feet in the feed and then rinse them in the water but it takes longer to clog up that way!

 

[deebs]

Ha ha, is THAT what they are doing? I'll try it!

 

[silkiechicken]

I just use water bottles... I've yet to see them get a shaving up the tube!

 

[Happy Chooks]

I put mine on a block of wood or a brick. When they get older and tall enough, I put it on a cinder block.

 

[hockeygirl56]

How old are the babies when most people put the waterer on top of something? I've been having the same issues for the past couple days, but I'm adding in a couple new babies tomorrow (the ones I have currently are btwn 5 days and 1 1/2 wks old) and I don't want to make it too hard for them to get to the water.

 

[CCourson05]

Quote:
It should be at the level of the smallest bird's back.. HTH..

 

[Eggcessive]

They are probably old enough now to put a 2x4 wood block under and depends on how deep the pine shavings. My 3 day old banties are too short, but my 2 week old standards have been using blocks for 10 days. They could use 2 blocks because I still have to clean out their 1 gallon waterer 3-4 times a day.

 

[bmalsup]

This was a problem for us as well, and my hubby put it up on a block of wood, as previously suggested. They still manage to get a few pine chips in, but it isn't nearly as bad as when it was on the brooder floor. Before, it was full and sucking all the water out of it and needed cleaned every couple hours.

 

[15chickiemama]

Put it up in wood or hang it. I hung mine and it solved that problem.