The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Jewelwing]

Hello everybody:
I was wondering if you can give me your opinions in this matter.
-We had a really crazy winter here I was watering my chickens and ducks in pyrex and anchor bowls and/or bakeware , but i find that they crack really easy some times even by the afternoon they are all crack. Now I was thinking this won't be that go for the animals since they will get some of the glass pieces and could probably crush or cut their insides. (well in my country you kill street dogs with meat and crash glass, evil I know but that is the way people deal in the third world countries) anyways I was getting the idea that my chickens and ducks will have the same fate if they get some of the glass pieces in thinking they are gravel. What do you think here?

-I want to keep my chickens / ducks plastic free so I was thinking on ceramic just those plane ceramic plates before you paint them or even put them in the oven to cure, if they crack or break will the pieces will be more like gravel or rock for the chickens or will still do the same as glass ?

-My other option is to make wood plates (really just some kind of low box and coat it with some kind of epoxy or resin (will this be really bad for the chickens?

Your opinion will be pretty much appreciated.
I know there is not much winter left but even in summer the animals can break the plates.

I used the glass pans for water and I had two shatter over the winter too, on the super cold nights. I picked up all the pieces as best I could, and worried like you that the chickens might eat some. So far, so good, though! I started bringing them in at night, since the chickens aren't drinking then anyway, and no more problems. I think it would be really hard for chickens & ducks to break a thick glass pan like Pyrex or Anchor Hocking. I throw them on the ground to get out the frozen water, and that's not when they broke!

I really don't know about un-cured ceramic plates. Wood plates seem fine, but I wouldn't use epoxy or resin on them. Stainless steel should be fine too, but easier to tip over.

I'm sticking with glass myself, and just bringing them inside overnight when it gets super cold. I'm not worried about the summer at all.

whats wrong with plastic or use metal pans like the kind you cook in if its good enough to cook in it should be good enough for a chicken to drink water out of right

I never use plastic for food or water - chemicals from the plastic leach out into the food & water and get ingested and then end up in the eggs. Stainless steel is fine, but I wouldn't use the non-stick metal pans (for chickens or for us!). Read the book Living Downstream by the ecologist Sandra Steingraber and you'll see why I think that way! (I just ordered myself the second edition after reading the first many years ago, so it's on my mind right now.)

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'm sticking with glass myself, and just bringing them inside overnight when it gets super cold. I'm not worried about the summer at all.

I had to bring my waterers in at night this year too.

whats wrong with plastic or use metal pans like the kind you cook in if its good enough to cook in it should be good enough for a chicken to drink water out of right

I never use plastic for food or water - chemicals from the plastic leach out into the food & water and get ingested and then end up in the eggs. Stainless steel is fine, but I wouldn't use the non-stick metal pans (for chickens or for us!). Read the book Living Downstream by the ecologist Sandra Steingraber and you'll see why I think that way! (I just ordered myself the second edition after reading the first many years ago, so it's on my mind right now.)

There IS more than one of us in the world.

Unfortunately I had to use the plastic water bases this winter for water here. First time I've used plastic on a regular basis. My water containers were glass but the base plastic. Can't wait until it warms up enough for my glass again.

Perhaps a new plan for next winter but I definitely want my waterers to be restricted opening to prevent the frostbite on the wattles and my glass bases weren't working well with the heaters I have currently. Still scheming...and I think I have a good alternative in the works.

 

[jime]

Thanks for your replies.
Yes, i do bring them inside at night but there is some that still break when was really cold , in matter of hours(5 of them is not bad considering I have 4 different pens, but was worry more for the chickens eating the bits.
I like glass because is easy to clean I use the for water and food as well.
Metal and stainless still I just have this crazy idea of the wattles getting in the border and attach to it like some times happens with us if we touch metal with wet hands in really cold weather, you don't want to try that with your tong (my 4 year old tried it when we use to live in Canada and was not fun) I just imagine the poor roosters attach to the plates so no metals for me.

 

[RedRidge]

I just drop stock tank deicers in mine... QED - quite easily done.
The older I get the more I need to work smarter and not harder.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I just drop stock tank deicers in mine... QED - quite easily done.
The older I get the more I need to work smarter and not harder.

In our weather I have to have restricted openings to keep the wattles from going in the water. I wish I could just continue to use more open options but the damage to the wattles is not worth risking.

@jime
I also worry about the metal in the cold like you talk about. I did use GLAZED ceramic last year some for wet food (fermented). I was careful to be sure the glaze did not have LEAD...if they're not marked "lead-free" they aren't. I would put those down into a heated dog bowl that fit perfectly but I found that my ceramic would break.

For the feed I"m now using pyrex pie pans on heater bases which have worked well. But I still wouldn't leave an open water dish - even on a heater. I've seen too many times when the birds get "spooked" and fly somewhere quickly and would end up stepping into an open water dish. Not to mentions frostbitten wattles.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Oh...forgot to say that I put an inverted dish into the wet feed pans to create restricted opening there too. My rooster got frostbite on his wattles in the ff before I restricted the opening. Wattles laying on the wet feed while eating is not a good scenario.

You can see the inverted dish in this pan but it's not on a heater base. Photo just to help get a picture of what I'm talking about. The feed sits all around the edge of the inverted dish.

 

[RedRidge]

Ok... I need to get a pic of my bucket covers... You could make them for any container. They are basically a pie shaped "spider web" of wire laced across the opening of the container to limit head access. Only down fall is you need to not let the level of the water get too low. I have some frostbite on some wattles this year in the more sheltered coop where I didn't use them. The outside pens I have no frostbite at all. I basically used wire to create a "star" over the top of the container.
We had a bunch of extra wire from a dropped ceiling we put in a basement years ago. I designed my own after I saw these....

 

[RedRidge]

Side note. This is the same design I used last year to make hanging FF feeders. Yes this one is plastic, but I have some made with stainless steel feed pans also.

 

[armorfirelady]

Ok... I need to get a pic of my bucket covers... You could make them for any container. They are basically a pie shaped "spider web" of wire laced across the opening of the container to limit head access. Only down fall is you need to not let the level of the water get too low. I have some frostbite on some wattles this year in the more sheltered coop where I didn't use them. The outside pens I have no frostbite at all. I basically used wire to create a "star" over the top of the container.
We had a bunch of extra wire from a dropped ceiling we put in a basement years ago. I designed my own after I saw these....

Now that is what I need for my heated dog dishes. It would definitely deter Lucy from standing in the food and water. Need to save that pic for reference ...............
Thank you red ridge !!

 

[RedRidge]

Quote:
Hmmm.... I never considered using this design for anything but poultry.
NOW you have me thinking... where is LM's "thinking" emoticon when I need it. ROFL
One of my chondro dexters LOVES to stand in the stock tank in the summer... Hmmmm....