Water bowl?

[stephensc7146]

Could my chickens drink out of a water bowl? I bout a 3 gallon steel bowl from tractor supply. its big, and only like 3 or 4 inches tall. I think i've heard of chickens drinking out of pans, and buckets before, but I just want some opinions before I decide to use it for my chickens or just give it to the dogs for a water bowl.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Grown chickens can drink out of a water bowl, but I would raise it a bit so that they don't get their water dirty. A general rule of thumb is to raise it the height of the smallest chicken in your flocks back.
I wouldn't use it for young chicks, in case they drown.

 

[Beekissed]

I'd invest in what you will be watering with during the winter time...and this is probably not going to be a good one for that. Also, you might consider that you may want to add things in the future to your water that may interact with the metals or corrode the metals.

A good water bowl type waterer is the thick, black rubber feed pans you can find at TSC...they are flexible enough that ice comes out of them immediately when you need to dump it in the colder times. They are darn near indestructible and the chickens can't tip them over if you get the bigger one, easy to clean also.

I agree with placing watering bowl type waterers up on cinder blocks or something similar to keep bedding and debris getting kicked into them. You'll still be doing quite a bit of cleaning and replacing water using the bowl waterer anyway but putting it up will help you not have to do it as often.

 

[stephensc7146]

Thank you =] I'm using the water fountain thing that came with the chick starter kit while they are little. I figured since the pan I bought was only 6 dollars compared to a 3 gallon water fountain being 32 dollars, I might save some money, and it work just as well for when they are grown. I was just hesitant to whether or not chickens would be safe to drink from it.

 

[stephensc7146]

In the winter I may invest in a heated water bowl, but during the summer and fall the metal one should work?

 

[Beekissed]

Sure will, folks have been using them for a long time and it seemed to be fine...you'll have to try it out and see what you like about it and what you do not. For years I used the rubber pans like I described and then this year I found water nipples! What a wonderful invention! Clean water all the time and no spillage...can't beat that from nipples that cost $3.66 for a pack of 5 and that one can mount on any plastic bucket, jug, pipe, etc. I even saw a lady put one on the bottom of a syrup bottle!

Love knowing the water is clean...no more swishing, dumping, refilling only to come out a little later to see the water mucked up again. I know it won't kill 'em but it sure looks nasty.

 

[stephensc7146]

It's kind of a pain to clean out the water thing 3 or 4 times a day! Let me tell ya! lol. Esp since the chicks started roosting, and they are constantly sitting on top of it and pooping in it. Drives me nuts! But I love the little fellas so I don't complain too much. I think to start out, since im pretty much spending every cent I have to make sure they have a nice coop, I will cut corners here and there, but I will definitely make up for it later on to get them nicer things. I'm pretty glad that the water pan will work out for them though!

 

[jmtcmkb]

A good water bowl type waterer is the thick, black rubber feed pans you can find at TSC...they are flexible enough that ice comes out of them immediately when you need to dump it in the colder times. They are darn near indestructible and the chickens can't tip them over if you get the bigger one, easy to clean also.

I agree with this... when a TSC employee suggested this I thought man that thing is huge and seems so simple, surely I must need a specific chicken waterer, I soon discovered...it was GREAT and over the winter, easy to dump and clean, and the chickens were able to drink from it easily, and it didnt freeze as fast as my other "chicken" waterers.