water-ers lol and feeders - ??

[Charrisse]

My babies will be needing big chickie supplies before I know it. So I figure I better get on it.

My flock right now consists of 26.. could go up or down a little, but should be pretty consistent.

I plan to hang two feeders inside the coop exclusively - to cut down on loss to other birds or critters, and hang one water-er inside and one outside - would that be enough? What sizes for a flock of say 30 to be safe? Any particular brands or types that are better, or are to be avoided? Or can be homemade? LOL

Thanks!!

 

[bestpractice]

There were several threads on here about chicks and chickens wasting feed -- mine do! It seems most people agree the homemade PVC feeder keeps them from pushing their food out onto the ground and it auto fills. I've already noticed how much feed my baby chicks are wasting and it is very expensive -- driving me crazy! Check out YouTube for videos on how to make the PVC feeder.

Keeping water clean and full during the heat of summer will be important to me so I'm looking at water's that hang (so they don't poop in it and scratch dirt into it) and can be connected to the garden hose so it auto fills (I can go out of town for a day or two and not worry). McMurray Hatchery has one. I'm sure there are many places that have them, and I will shop for best price when I buy it.

It seems everyone has different needs and different ideas. The YouTube videos are really informative and helped me to decide what would best fit my needs.

 

[Charrisse]

I will look up those PVC feeders then, sure would be cheaper then buying! haha

 

[BellevueOmlet]

As far as watering, you can hold your water in buckets or barrels outside of the coop and run pvc from them to the your run on the inside. This works well for space conservation and efficiency of filling. The hook up nipples or waterer cups to the pvc and you are set.

 

[Charrisse]

I've ordered the nipples, and I have five gallon buckets with lids. How do I train my 16 day olds to use the nipples? They are using the traditional chick waterer from tractor supply.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Think ahead for winter, you'll need a heated waterer. We bought a glavinized then our first winter realized we needed something electric. The heat plates for the galvinized waterers are just as expensive as the plastic heated waterer so went for one of those. I recommend it. Plastic heated waterer. 3 gallon size.

 

[bnjrob]

I've ordered the nipples, and I have five gallon buckets with lids. How do I train my 16 day olds to use the nipples? They are using the traditional chick waterer from tractor supply.

Here's a site that has some troubleshooting tips for this: http://www.avianaquamiser.com/troubleshooting/