Watering chickens

[Knackmagic]

My chickens are full grown . I have put their water in a large black rubber bowl.
Yet, they refuse to drink from it .
what ami doing wrong ?

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

Can they reach the top of the bowl? If they can you need to be sure that they know where it is. Do they act thirsty? They may be drinking and you might not be seeing them.

 

[LizzzyJo]

If this is a change to how they were normally watered before, it will just take adjustment time for them. I would splash the water around and show them and then leave them alone. They will figure it out.

 

[Knackmagic]

Can they reach the top of the bowl? If they can you need to be sure that they know where it is. Do they act thirsty? They may be drinking and you might not be seeing them.

They can reach the bowl, I fill the bowl each day in front of them. Yet, when I let them out in the morning into their run, they go directly to the other water feeder. I notice the water level in the black bowl and have noticed it never goes down .
Thank you for your advice.

 

[ChloeSilkie08]

They can reach the bowl, I fill the bowl each day in front of them. Yet, when I let them out in the morning into their run, they go directly to the other water feeder. I notice the water level in the black bowl and have noticed it never goes down .
Thank you for your advice.

As long as they get water they should be fine. My chickens will ALWAYS drink the water from the ground instead of any bowl. The chickens will always prefer the waterer they were raised or used to than a new one.

 

[Knackmagic]

Also, my friend told me to put a ping pong ball in the water to prevent the water from freezing . I tried to have the ball in there and I thought maybe that was detouring them from drinking so, I took it out . Made no difference . They still don’t drink from the bowl

 

[MissMonty]

I wouldn't worry too much since they are drinking other water. Sometimes they just prefer not to drink from something new.

 

[NatJ]

Maybe try putting some glass marbles in the bowl?
With baby chicks, they will peck the shiny marbles and get water in their beaks, and that helps them realize it's good to drink.

I wonder if it might work with adult chickens too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chickens often don't like change but can get used to it. As you are sure they are not drinking there I'd grab a couple, one at a time, and put the tip of their beak in the water. Make sure they know it is there. If one starts drinking from there the others will learn from them.

I'm not sure what is going on. I imagine winter has something to do with giving them water in a black rubber bowl. As long as they are getting water from somewhere I would not worry too much about it but you probably have a reason for wanting them to use that one.

Does location have something to do with it? Is it somewhere they don't want to hang out or do they feel threatened there? It's hard to know what is going on but mine do not have problems switching form white bowls in summer to black bowls in winter.

 

[Knackmagic]

Chickens often don't like change but can get used to it. As you are sure they are not drinking there I'd grab a couple, one at a time, and put the tip of their beak in the water. Make sure they know it is there. If one starts drinking from there the others will learn from them.

I'm not sure what is going on. I imagine winter has something to do with giving them water in a black rubber bowl. As long as they are getting water from somewhere I would not worry too much about it but you probably have a reason for wanting them to use that one.

Does location have something to do with it? Is it somewhere they don't want to hang out or do they feel threatened there? It's hard to know what is going on but mine do not have problems switching form white bowls in summer to black bowls in winter.

Thank you everyone for such sound advice.
I deeply appreciate it