Waterers for chicks and ducklings

[Emily77]

Hi! I’m pretty new here.
I have 15 chicks and 3 ducklings, all hatched mid-March.
The water situation is a mess. I’ve been using pint mason jar waterers, and a supplemental bowl big enough for the ducks to get their heads wet. The bowl is off to the side, sort of off the beaten path so they can make a big mess of it, which they do, and it’s usually empty within an hour or so of filling it twice a day. Even with their own bowl to splash around in, they still muck up the mason jar waterers. I’m changing out the water 2-3 times daily, and still it leaves the chicks with sludgy gross water to drink for much of the time.
I don’t have space to separate them.
I just switched to a big 5 gallon jug with little poultry cup waterers(pic attached). Will they figure it out? I really don’t want to find dead chicks because I was trying to give them clean water and they couldn’t figure out how to get it. I filled the little cups so they know it’s a water source, but I work tomorrow, they’ll be on their own for 12 hours.
Any advice appreciated.

 

[Birdinhand]

I'd add a vertical nipple waterer as a supplement at least, that should assure they have water throughout the day.

 

[Emily77]

I'd add a vertical nipple waterer as a supplement at least, that should assure they have water throughout the day.

Well poop. That’s not going to happen before I go to work tomorrow.
In lieu of a vertical nipple...?
Do I give them their mason jars back?
I’ve seen several of them drink from the new cups, but not all, and not sure they will know how to get water from it once the cup is empty.

 

[llombardo]

No joke--I put my ducks in the bath tub during the day. I put a thick towel down and give them a big pail of water for dunking and a pail of food. I come home at lunch and change the water, not a lot of it is gone but it's icky from the food. At 7 every night the ducks have an hour of swim time. I dry them off and put them back in the brooder with the chicks for bedtime.

I haven't had to change the bedding since I started separating them. Before that I was doing it twice a day. I tried multiple set ups and bowls. The chicks now jump in and out of the brooder or roost on the edge. It works, still some work but it works.

 

[ker0412]

Hi! I’m pretty new here.
I have 15 chicks and 3 ducklings, all hatched mid-March.
The water situation is a mess. I’ve been using pint mason jar waterers, and a supplemental bowl big enough for the ducks to get their heads wet. The bowl is off to the side, sort of off the beaten path so they can make a big mess of it, which they do, and it’s usually empty within an hour or so of filling it twice a day. Even with their own bowl to splash around in, they still muck up the mason jar waterers. I’m changing out the water 2-3 times daily, and still it leaves the chicks with sludgy gross water to drink for much of the time.
I don’t have space to separate them.
I just switched to a big 5 gallon jug with little poultry cup waterers(pic attached). Will they figure it out? I really don’t want to find dead chicks because I was trying to give them clean water and they couldn’t figure out how to get it. I filled the little cups so they know it’s a water source, but I work tomorrow, they’ll be on their own for 12 hours.
Any advice appreciated.

Hi! I’m pretty new here.
I have 15 chicks and 3 ducklings, all hatched mid-March.
The water situation is a mess. I’ve been using pint mason jar waterers, and a supplemental bowl big enough for the ducks to get their heads wet. The bowl is off to the side, sort of off the beaten path so they can make a big mess of it, which they do, and it’s usually empty within an hour or so of filling it twice a day. Even with their own bowl to splash around in, they still muck up the mason jar waterers. I’m changing out the water 2-3 times daily, and still it leaves the chicks with sludgy gross water to drink for much of the time.
I don’t have space to separate them.
I just switched to a big 5 gallon jug with little poultry cup waterers(pic attached). Will they figure it out? I really don’t want to find dead chicks because I was trying to give them clean water and they couldn’t figure out how to get it. I filled the little cups so they know it’s a water source, but I work tomorrow, they’ll be on their own for 12 hours.
Any advice appreciated.

How are the chicks and ducks thus far?

 

[Emily77]

How are the chicks and ducks thus far?

@ker0412 - They’re doing well moved outside to the coop with a heat lamp for the cold nights. Graduated to horizontal nipples last week, no one has died so they must have figured them out. The ducks get marched across the outside run once a day to their little pond. I’m hoping they have either already figured out how to get their on their own or will soon.
Most of them (15 chicks, 3 ducks) are a month old this week, with 3 younger chicks at 2 weeks old now.

 

[ker0412]

Thats nice. I have 12 chicks. I thought about getting ducks in the near future. I'll stick with chicks for now. How big is the pond? I'e heard kiddie pools do well too. If I get anything else soon I'd like a goose to help guard the flock.