Water at night?

[amcstay]

Do chicks need water at night? Mine are 3 weeks old and sleep inside with the lights out - no heat lamp, nothing. When I put water in their night basket, they end up tipping it over - and I refill it about 5 times before I go to bed, and then, sometimes they tip it again and other times they don't. Once the lights are out, do they still need to have water in their basket?
Thanks,
Alexandra

 

[zatsdeb]

how many chicks do you have and how big is the brooder? I leave water in 24-7..
I usually put a larger waterer on a flat surface, like a few bricks raising it up a little, but if they don't have much room then they will bump into your water tipping it over also.
mine at 3 weeks I had a light on all the time though, and they always had light for heat.
maybe someone else does this different
I am sure someone will comment on this.

 

[amcstay]

I have three chicks.

We are in the Caribbean, so it's pretty warm here all day and night. During the day they are outside with water and food in a pen and the water is raised up. At night I bring them inside and put them in my laundry basket ( I was using a cardboard box, but the repeated wetting downs made it get warped and I was afraid it would mold) at night.

When they first come in, I use the heat lamp for about 3 hours and then we turn it off when we go to sleep. We lost power with a hurricane last week and they didn't have a heat lamp on at all for about 5 nights and seemed fine, so I thought it would be ok to keep it off at night now that we have power back.

But whenever I keep giving them water in the basket, they tip it over because they try to roost on it, well actually, they stick their feet on the lip of the bowl, and tip it.

 

[Tailfeathers]

The answer is "Yes". All chickens should have fresh water available at all times. This is especially true with chicks.

I'd suggest getting a better water container. For our chicks we use a quart Mason jar with the aluminum lid that screws on or the plastic quart container with the red plastic screw on lid. Either one will work without them being able to spill it.

God Bless,

 

[amcstay]

So, do you punch holes in screw on jar lids? How does that work? I guess I will have to get them a bigger box or something so that will fit a bigger water container... what about food, do they need food at night? I have left the food in there and wasn't going to take it out, but I'm just curious now.....

 

[jhm47]

Your chicks would not be drinking water if they were being raised by a hen, so why would they need water 24/7 when they are being raised in a brooder?

Chicks being raised by a hen follow the hen to a place that the hen feels is safe, and around sundown they go under the hen and stay there till daylight. Then they will eat and drink their fill.

When the chicks are big enough to roost with the hen, they fly up to a roost and stay there till morning. They obviously don't drink while roosting.

So---chicks don't need water when they are sleeping.

 

[cmom]

I leave water 24/7 in the brooder and in the nursery coop and a light. I work graveyard, I check it in the morning when I come home from work in the afternoon when I get up and at night before I go to work. I have 2 waterers. I have a small qt plastic one in the brooder and a 2 gal galvanized one in the nursery coop. On my off days I check them frequently. They sleep often during the day and night and get up and eat and drink often. I also have water and feed available in my big girls coop 24/7 as well as free choice grit and oyster shells.

 

[amcstay]

JHM47 - that was what I had been thinking since we do have a lot of wild chickens near here and I NEVER see them out and about at night.

Thank you all for taking the time to answer my questions. You guys are wonderful!

 

[zatsdeb]

how about posting some pictures! We all love to see pictures of chicks!
I think I remember my DH telling me that they left lights on and food and water 24-7 to make them grow faster when they are little.
sounds like you are in a much warmer place too! It gets pretty cold here in central illinois!!!