Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[notabitail]

I'd been wondering about metal waterers because they look nice, and the plastic ones do wear out after a couple years.

Donna's wondering why I thought this would make a good photo, but this is the waterer we like:

View attachment 4288472

Between last night and this morning, I reminded myself of the 2 main reasons I've stuck with plastic waterers:

1. Our well water is potentially tough on metal, and I worry about zinc leaching in galvanized waterers.

2. We regularly have temperatures cold enough to stick to metal (for us, that's low 20s F/ -6 C). You'd think I'd learn not to grab coop keys with damp fingers or mittens Handling metal waterers those mornings would be a nightmare, and I wasn't even thinking about the wattles!

Interesting to see how others solve for waterers.

@fuzzi -- I'd been wondering whether that water-bottle trick works after it started making the rounds on the 'gram reels a couple years ago. Looks like a clever setup.

All of my metal waterers have gone bad. They'd kinda rust and get really icky. They look nice but that's about it. Switched to the plastic ones last year.

 

[Molpet]

I started with black rubber bowls for water until the roosters wattles turned black and fell off.
I have the plastic bell waterers nowadays.

ETA I had the nipples and cups but they froze and broke when it got below 20f
I switch the bell waterers out a few times a day when I check for eggs before they freeze

 

[HiEverybirdy]

So far, so good with this waterer from Premier 1 Supplies, which ought to be available in the UK (it’s made in The Netherlands). Wattles remain dry:

View attachment 4288436

If there were a way to keep the water thawed, it would be perfect. It’s made it through 16°F/-9°C without cracking. We’ll see how we do Monday night (3°).

https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/aviaqua-poultry-drinker?cat_id=141

Everything we have from Premier1 has worked a little better than items from RentACoop, particularly the poultry netting.

I snapped a few photos of the backup waterers this a.m. to illustrate what I wrote about, in case it's helpful to anyone.

These 2 are in Merle's Girls' 4x6' coop.

I just realized we don't need 2 in this coop anymore, ha. The Marans were such bullies as youngsters that an extra waterer helped keep the peace. The one up top is mainly used by Merle now. He likes to crow and sip here in the mornings.

In Andre's 4x4':

Excuse the messy tumbling mat where Andre sleeps. It really is cleaner than it looks. When I do quick checks at roosting time, Andre hops up to grab a few last sips before settling back down on his mat.