Sick of chick waterers full of shavings, AAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

[Pumpkinpup]

I am going to pull my hair out if this keeps up. For several years now I have found myself having to clean my baby chicks' waterers out four or five times per day because the little buggers keep insiting on plugging them up with shavings! I have tried elevating the drinkers on wooden blocks which had did no good at all. I am at my wits end. Has anyone here found a solution to this disgusting and most annoying problem? PLEASE say yes! Tell me the answer

 

[Mahonri]

You are going to go bald.

 

[Pumpkinpup]

Quote:
I hope not!

Maybe someone can save me from that fate

 

[Sissy]

Have you tried hanging it.
just above the floor.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Nope, you are JUST going to have to deal with the little turds doing this. I have tried everything I can think of. I even tried putting one of my Parrots water things in thier storage contianer. It has two prongs that go through the cage bars and a removable metal water dish from the support. I drilled two holes in the storage container to set the support off the floor from the shavings.

Now I have to empty the bowl with shavings/water and put in fresh water twice a day. It does however save the hassle of taking out the inverted waterer thingy and that MESS. The chicks do not tip it over since it is attached to the container wall. This is what prompted me to do this. The little turds were playing so hard they managed to tip the whole inverted waterer thingy over into the shavings and empty the entire pint/quart of water onto the floor of their storage container. Now, that was a mess.

HOWEVER, I still get shavings in this. They must scratch thier little butts off to get this done. You can not do this with really small chicks as they will either drown or will not be able to reach the water in the bowl.

Hope this helps and please save your hair and just open a window and scream.... I am not going to take this anymore !!...... even though you have to.

 

[Pumpkinpup]

Quote:

I may not hatch any more chicks myself after this batch then..........well, maybe one more........well, maybe just a few more.....AWH NUTS! Who am I kidding? I'm never gonna quit, I'm addicted to them!

Am really tired of the messes the little brats make though!

 

[jimnjay]

I can certainly relate. Even the food dishes need constant cleaning of shavings. I have found that raising the a bit more every two weeks helps a bit. As they get older keeping the level of the food and water at the same level as their back helps but by no means does it completely solve the problem. I am always relieved to put them outside where there is more room and they seem to be able to keep the feeder and drinkers clean.

 

[EllyMae]

Just comes with the territory...kinda like human babies...the entire time they are going through the toddler years, every available surface in your home is as sticky as fly paper thanks to the little buggers hands, lol. Then you move up to the preschool years....etc etc

 

[BirdBoy88]

I had the same problem so i switch to news paper most people don't use news paper because you have to change it everyday but it beats the heck out of cleaning the shavings and cleaning it everyday doesn't bother me.. it gives me another reason to play with the chicks..lol

 

[spook]

Hmmmm, guess what, I tired of it too....until I placed a 1 foot square of plywood over the shavings and the waterer on top of it. We still had some shavings in the water, but a whole lot less!!!
The unfortunate fate of the layers waterer, that is plugged in on 2 patio blocks (hieght) still gets tipped, unplugged and leaked all over the dang floor. Grrrrowl is all I can do!!!