Waterer question

[Marcymom3]

In early May, when I got my chicks I also got one of those TSC waterers with the red base and gallon reservoir on top. I found they were roosting on it an pooping into the water and I would have to clean it out several times a day. So, about 2 weeks ago, hubs made a waterer with nipples out of a 2 gallon plastic bucket. My pullets drink out of it, but don't seem to drink as much as they used to drink from the other waterer. This morning, I poured some water into a little dish that I keep in the run for snacks and they went to town on it. I also noticed that when I let them out of the pen to run around the yard in the afternoon (stinkbug patrol), they go right for the dog's big outside water bowl for a drink. All the nipples are working, I checked that first. I'm tempted to go back to the old waterer.

Any suggestions? I don't want them to get dehydrated.

Thanks for your input!

 

[farmerinKC]

I have the same situation. I have the same waterer and mine don't roost on it, but the sand in my run has a lot of fine dirt in it and they peck the sand-get a drink-peck the sand-get a drink, so the water gets dirty and sandy very quickly. By the end of the day it's disgusting. So I made a nipple waterer out of a soda bottle-they do get little drinks from it, but not enough for their needs. I was afraid to just take away the TSC waterer since it was just so hot this summer-I may now to see if they would drink enough from the nipple waterer.

Do you have your TSC waterer raised? I have mine sitting on an over-turned flower pot. One where the bottom of the pot is the same diameter of the base of the waterer. Someone on here suggested to still put a chain on it, even though it's not hanging from the chain-it would prevent them from roosting on it. You could try that.

 

[Marcymom3]

Glad to hear that someone else has the same problem! There are three nipples on the bottom of this 2 gallon bucket and they do drink from it. Guess if they are thirsty enough they will drink from it, but...

Yes, I had it up on two layers of brick. They had no trouble hopping on top. I wonder if I could put a large plastic funnel or some sort of cone on top there that would keep them from finding good footing. I think I will just have to figure something else out.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[gale65]

Mine roosted on it too. Here's what I did: I had a couple of those cheap pots that you buy flowers in. I think 1 gallon size. So I took one of those and used about a half a roll of foil tape to attach a funnel to the bottom of it on the outside. So it looks like a funky tin hat. It sits right over that part that screws off and the chickens stay off of it. It's easy to put on and take off and it stays on nicely.

Can't help with the nipples. I bought some but haven't made a waterer with it yet.

 

[Mommysongbird]

My biggest problem is that our chicken knock their waterer off the blocks they are on and then it empties. I have no idea when or why they do it, but it happens every day sometimes twice a day.

I do have 3 of the 2-liter bottles with the nipple spouts on them (like what a rabbit would drink out of, but I am not sure how they are going to do in the winter. Also have a rabbit water bottle on the side of the run. Although we can't put any waterers on the inside of the coop, because they throw the pine chips in it and then tip it over too.

 

[mcfarmall]

I presume your waterer doesn't have a factory installed bail for hanging? If not I would make one so you could suspend it from a piece of jack chain. Hang it from a hook and you can adjust it up or down by moving the links. No more roosting on it or knocking it over.

 

[Mommysongbird]

Quote:
None of mine have a way to hang them. I have been trying to figure out a way to do that.

Our feeder has a hook, but it stay under the coop and there is NOT a lot of room under there for hanging, but would love to do that as well. Any suggestions??

 

[gale65]

The type we have has a screw-on lid on top and the sides are sloped plastic, so any bail would have to go on the screw on part. I'm not sure I'd want to risk compromising that since it has to have a good seal to prevent leaking. We put ours on bricks and they never knock it over, even though they're crowded in the coop right now.

 

[AccentOnHakes]

My waterer is under my poop board, so the poop board is low enough that they can't jump up on it. You can just build a simple wooden stand to cover it--they can't get on it, and the poop is either on the cover or far enough away that it doesn't get in the water.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

You can use waterer cups like these:

The block the cup so the chickens have nowhere to stand