Pullets and cockerels not drinking?

[Duckfarmer1]

I use heat tape for my water ears. Everyone else drinks the water great...ducks, goats, adult chickens, pot belly pigs, etc. my 17 week pullet and cockerels don’t seem to touch their water anymore. My husband and I have both tested the water many times and moved the tape daily. The water is not too hot. The water does not have any electrical charge to sting the birds. So, after a week of not refilled water....but all the birds are still extremely healthy so they must be eating snow...anyways I totally changed the eater bowl hoping that they would think it was different and now drink from it. That was only two days ago. But yesterday, perhaps it was too soon to tell, but it didn’t seem like they drank from that either.

i know they are very healthy..they are free range and run around like crazy. They are a hoot. But, of course I worry about the water bowl not going down. They are eating a ton, dirt bathing, eating grit..I do not have them on oyster shell because they are too young to lay.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Is there another source of water that they might be using?
Are your birds confined or do they roam around?

 

[50-45-1]

.they are free range and run around like crazy

agree that they may be getting there drinks from another source. with all those other critters you must have multiple waterers and water sources.
maybe they got a shock from the past waterer and dont trust it any more.
they arent showing you any signs of ill health. i think they are fine.

 

[rosemarythyme]

My guess is they're getting the water they need from elsewhere, possibly from eating some snow, which mine do seem to like, or even drinking from snow melt dripping off a fence or a roof. My birds slow down a lot on drinking during winter and I know they prefer licking condensation off the fence, etc.