We thought up a super waterer also..at the last bird show there was a guy selling travel cages, like dog crates, and had food and water dishes that clamp onto the side of the cage ??!!
How nice, I thought, they clamp at head level so the birds cannot kick poop into it and they are square and fit flat against the wall but a bird can get it's head in there but cannot roast on/or poop in, it.
They are 5 inches WIDE and 8 inches LONG and 8 Inches DEEP... like a show box cut in half.
DH put 2 screws in the inside of the coop wall, so the box sits on these 2 screws WAY OFF THE FLOOR>
What a fantatsic idea !!
I check the box is full evey day when I open/close coop doors.
They have never frozen as they are inside, there is no rats or mice can drink or poop in them either, and did I mention they will not freeze ???
I simply carry a milk jug of water with me in the morning when I go out to open coops, and top their water off.
If the water gets dirty or needs washing, I swish it, and hang it back on the wall.
I paid alot for these cage type waterers, but there is plenty of narrow square rubbermaid type plastic containers that would work..even a folger's plastic coffee can would work..wanna see pics I have to out and snap them, I have none on the puter.
I also do not like BIG water fonts as the chlorine evaporates and you can gets rats & nice drinking and poop, chicken & vermin poop, next thing you know the water is teeming with colibacilliosis..exactly what killed alot of my birds last fall.
Small water fonts, change often, and add the Tablespoon of the bleach solution before you give it to your birds is highly recommended by WSU and the SPPA (see the last bulletin: Care tips, by Dr Charles Everett)