Red waterer

[Eric Vey]

I got a couple of 7 week old chicks yesterday afternoon and I noticed that while they were eating fine, they were not drinking. I figured that the change in waterer was the reason and that they would figure it out. By this morning I became alarmed.

Asked the seller and she said it was a standard waterer from Tractor Supply. Looked at the pictures and all of them had red bases. My clip-on cup to the cage, was green. Could this be it? Offered them water in a red cup and they went nutz over it. After 14 hours they were thirsty!
I guess they were conditioned to only expect water from a red container although the old feeder was red and they didn't mind a different color feeder.

Thought I would share this.

 

[aart]

Might have been the color, and yes they were familiar with that type of waterer.
Might also have been the location.
Did you dip their beaks in the cage hung waterer to show them where/what it was?

 

[Eric Vey]

I'm keeping them in a cage now inside the house. They came from a brooder, so I have to acclimate them to the outside coop that is my quarantine/hospital coop.

They were freaked out from the 2 hour drive yesterday, so I'm trying not to throw too many changes at them all at once.

I also have to train them to use nipples, which are red. But the bucket is too big for the cage. I'm using a red cup wired to the cage for now.

I dipped their beaks yesterday, but they fought me and were so freaked out that I don't think it did anything for them. Now that they are hydrated, they are acting normal.