Probelms with homemade waterer

[Loco Ken]

Hey, Everyone!

I've been having an issue with my pullets getting their feed in the waterer. From what I can tell, they are getting it in there from their mouths. This all started more regularly after I started feeding them organic feed. They must not be swallowing the feed all the way before they take a drink because I have to clean out the waterer every day. I can't leave it in there for any length of time or it ruins the water. Why are they doing this? And how can I prevent them from doing it, if that's possible? I made my own waterer out of a HD bucket with a automatic waterer for dogs and a small length of garden hose. It works great but kinda defeats the purpose of having it fill by itself when I have to clean it out everyday anyway. Sometimes multiple times a day. Any suggestion would be helpful! Thanks!

Loco Ken

 

[gale65]

I've had better luck with the feeder further away from the waterer. However, I change the water every 3 or 4 days and if it gets food in it, it doesn't seem to bother them. When they were getting food in it a lot I would tip the waterer and just dump the part in the bottom once a day or so.

 

[fireguy56]

Hi, Have you given any thought to a nipple watering system? In my humble opinion it is the only way to go for simplicity and convenience. No more cleaning out waterers. Just a thought. Good luck.
erik

 

[mommissan]

Quote:
It's not just for your convenience. It prevents a lot of contamination and pathogens from growing in your water supply.

 

[Loco Ken]

Quote:
Sorry for the late reply (Life happens whether you want it to or not) but I would really like to try this. I need to investigate more on the construction and availability of parts but it sounds like a good alternative to my watering problem. I will do some searching, but is there a good thread here that you know of that explains putting this all together and where to buy parts? Thanks for the replies, everyone! I will post pics of the new system when it gets put in place and of the old one too.

 

[DanEP]

Neal Grassbough ( I think thats the right spelling) on this forum sells water nipples at a good price and resaonable shipping cost. You just need the nipples and a bucket and your good to go. I hang mine so it's easy to adjust the height. No more stuff in the water and you can put a heater in the bucket for winter, this doesn't work if your usinf pipes or hoses they will freeze.

 

[Loco Ken]

Ordered up some watering nipples last night. Looking forward to getting this installed. Thanks for the help, everyone!