Spilling water all over coop

[Baysidegal]

My girls are 7 weeks old. They are in their coop at night. I’ve hung water from the lowest roost so they have water at night but in the morning the coop is WET! I end up throwing out all the wet shavings into the yard.
The roosts are still clean which indicates to me they are NOT roosting yet. Any suggestions for water in the coop or should I just forget it?

Thank you ALL for your timely responses, that’s why I love this group. I usually get them out of their coop and into their yard around 8 am.

They dont need water in the coop at night. If your coop is small, take it out. They wont drink at night, but they will spill it as they jostle for positions before roosting.

 

[black_cat]

Thank you ALL for your timely responses, that’s why I love this group. I usually get them out of their coop and into their yard around 8 am.

View attachment 2339248

They are fine to have water in the run if they're out at 8 am.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That type of waterer needs to be perfectly level. My guess is that they are tilting it when they bump into it.

My suggestion would be to set it up off the coop floor, maybe build a shallow platform so the waterer is at their back level, to help stop them scratching bedding in it. I used to use this type in my brooder, not for older chickens, they are too easily knocked over. When I had it in the brooder I used screws around the base to keep them from moving it and I supported it from the top to keep it from turning over. It still set firmly on that very flat wood.

I changed my watering method and went with a black rubber bowl and built a support so it would not turn over if they stood on it. They could hop up on the platform around it to drink. That platform helped stop them from scratching bedding in it. This waterer was in my grow-out coop, when I use it for baby chicks I fill it with rocks so they don't fall in.

 

[Baysidegal]

Great ideas! Thank you! They went without water last night. When I let them out this morning they made a Bee-line for the water. They survived.