water for chickens in hot weather

[graggy]

I have a 5 gallon waterer in my coop that I change every four to five days. In the hot weather were having now which is about 100 degrees should I give them cold water everyday in a seperate bowl so they can cool off? Or is it ok to just let them drink the very warm water. Thanks

 

[GeeJay]

I am wondering the same thing! I have been adding fresh water twice a day...just to be sure

 

[Frost Homestead]

they will greatly appreciate a bowl of cold water, try putting some ice in it!

 

[Nicole01]

I change the waterer daily and wash it out every 2 days. They should be getting fresh water daily, especially during the hot days. The waterer builds up with bacteria and slime very quickly. I personally wouldn't want to drink out of that myself. We actually give all our animals fresh water daily. Dogs and cats included. We have well water and it's loaded with iron and minerals.

 

[de88ie]

Hi!
New to Chicken farming.
We have 2 water containers that we change daily.
We also put a pan of water for them to stand in. Two of the chickens stand in the water for hours.

Fun to watch them.

 

[ID Pam]

I have a 5 gallon waterer and 20 chickens. The 5 gallons would probably last several days in a pinch, however I think it is important for them to have fresh, clean cool water available. My waterer is in the shade, but it still gets a little slime and a little algae if I do not clean it out regularly. I have a plastic scrubby hanging on a nail near the hose outlet. I simply dump the water, give it a good scrub and a couple of rinses and then refill with my clean cold well water. I do it first thing in the AM when I let the chickens out of their coop. That way they are eager to get on with checking for new "good eats" in the garden and other chicken fun things and are not under my feet trying to help. I fill the feeder as necessary and the morning chores for the chickens takes only about 10 minutes.

Pam in ID

 

[sourland]

I'd like to recommend changing water daily and adding a block of ice. With the weather we are having, I am changing water on my dogs and pigeons 3 times daily. They always seem to appreciate the cold water.

 

[erinszoo]

We've had 100+ temps for over a month now and are changing out the water pan twice a day plus our birds have a pond which we purposely built a shallow end in. Our duck and geese will climb in to the deeper end of the pond for most of the day when they aren't grazing and the chickens like to stand in the shallow water or roost along the edge of the pond. We give them ice twice a day which they love.

 

[CatDaddyAlbert]

You can put 1 0z of beach to a gallon of what and it will keep the slim out, and if you have a large waterer you can do what I do and that is fill it half with water and half with ice.

Even with the bleach in the water I change mine twice a day when it is like it is here in Delaware....92 degrees and 78% humidity. I also have fans running on them just to move some air.

Good luck and take care in the heat.

CDA

 

[RaZ]

The 1 gallon waterers are pretty cheap. I have a couple and rotate them through the freezer so that I always have a chunk of ice to keep the water cool.
I'm going to try the suggestion of a shallow pan of water for them to stand in.

The heat index is 115' here today and I've been checking on them every hour. They seem to be doing fine with my system.
Of course I only have a few. What do farms and owners of scores of chickens do in the heat?