Small shavings? Or the bigger kind?

[Nicole01]

I like the bigger kind. We get ours from fleet farm in the horse bedding section. Around 5 bucks for 5 cubic feet. Great price I think.

. I put the water up on blocks too.

 

[Lurach]

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I love the water bottle method...NO shavings in the water, and it only took helping them once or twice for them to get the hang of it. Even my littlest bantam has no trouble getting water. Mine also has volume markings on it, so easy to see that they're getting enough water.

ETA: Duh! I use the larger pine shavings from TSC. They work really well with my chickies.

 

[ginormous chicken]

Luv the rabbit water bottles! They also drink more, because it isn't dirty and I personally think it must be fun to hit the little metal ball!

Rabbit bottle is $3.22 for the big one at Walmart $2.15 for the small one.

 

[gale65]

I was all set to use rabbit bottles. But when we used them for our rabbits, they would get stopped up within a couple of weeks. I think because we have such hard well water and I didn't want to give them softened water to drink. Seems like the water gets lime deposits and clogs up the ball. I guess I could buy 2 or 3 and soak the tops in vinegar every week or so....

 

[stargazingmommy]

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I know some people swear by putting apple cider vinegar in the water, I wonder if that would prevent the plugging up issue...

 

[Lurach]

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Do you have a water filter? We have really hard water here too, and it doesn't taste good at all. I installed an under-the-counter water filter which has helped a LOT with taste and deposits. You could use a filter pitcher or faucet filter if you don't want to go to the trouble of installation. (Although, if I can do it anyone can! LOL) Just a thought.

 

[Chickencoop1996]

I prefer the larger ones because they aren't as dusty.

 

[Anianna]

We have rabbits and I am learning to hate rabbit water bottles. I haven't found a brand yet that is easy to fill, easy to clean, and consistently doesn't leak. The metal ball and metal spout tend to expand and contract at different rates depending on the conditions. You have to pick your poison. With our rabbits in hanging cages with wire bottoms, I go for the leaky ones because I need easy to fill and easy to clean and the buns won't get wet with the water dripping below their cages. In a coop, though, wet bedding can be very bad and I won't put my chickens on wire. I saw "chicken nipples" somewhere and am considering giving those a try if I can find them again, but I worry it will give the same results.

 

[Keileigh]

Never tried rabbit water bottles with chicks, but when I've had rabbits, I've never had a bottle that didn't leak. Is there a better type/brand that I don't know about? I'd be interested in using them with chicks.

The first pine shavings I used were small, and I did have to clean out the waterer several times a day, even after elevating it. Now I'm using the larger of the two varieties TSC sells, and with the waterer on an upside-down metal pie pan it stays pretty clean. Lots less dust, too, even when the chicks get crazy and fly around.

 

[gale65]

Quote:
Do you have a water filter? We have really hard water here too, and it doesn't taste good at all. I installed an under-the-counter water filter which has helped a LOT with taste and deposits. You could use a filter pitcher or faucet filter if you don't want to go to the trouble of installation. (Although, if I can do it anyone can! LOL) Just a thought.

We've tried the pitcher type and the kind that goes on the faucet and still didn't like the taste of the water. So we buy bottled for us. I suppose I could give that to the chicks if I had to. It's only a quarter a gallon...