What are some ways to keep the water clean

I put mine on a plastic dinner plate that we had bought for when we go camping. We still do get a little shavings but nothing like it was before.
If I keep the plate cleaned off regularly then it greatly diminishes the debris that gets in the water

 

Just like mommathea said, you can elevate the waterer a little bit. I use a small wooden block that is approx the same size as the bottom of the waterer or a shallow bowl approx the same size as the bottom of the waterer and turn it upside down, put the waterer on top. You just have to make sure it is not too tall for little tiny chicks to reach.

Lisa

 

I put mine on bricks. The water stays perfectly clean.

 

I use a old DVD case to lift mine up higher.

 

I bought 4 8x8x16 Gray Concrete Block at Lowes at a discount price of 0.39 each. I put the waterer on top of it. It works great under $2.

 

When mine were a week old, I was changing the water at least 4 times per day because they made it their mission in life to fill up both waterers with shavings over and over again as fast as possible. Raising them up on wood helped a TEENY bit. The total solution to the problem? When I moved them out to the (closed up and draft free with two heat lamps) coop with a lot more space. Now they are 3.5 weeks old and they have enough room to scratch and they get basically no shavings in the waterers.

 

Rabbit water bottles.... that is what I use. I had the standard typ bottle in there until they were a week old but after that the get a rabbit bottle. no mess and not allost of wasted water. good luck!

here is a photo of the kind I use and for the babies I use a smaller one. more like a mouse sized opening. they all catch on very quickly because it shiny and they try to peck it.

another cool advantage to this method of watering is I dont have beak issues any more. I had a few girls whose beak was a bit over grown... well when they stick the beak up in the opening to get water they really lightly shave the exsess beak off. its awesome!!! they poke thier beak inside the nipple and move the little ball thingy out of the way they let the water run into thier throats...

its also very entertaining to watch them drink this way!!! I have days when I jsut go out and sit and watch the bird drink, and I also give them sand to dust bathe in and sit and giggle to myself about how cute those buggar are!!!

 

You want to keep it as high as you can with them still being able to easily drink (even the smallest ones), and you can put it on a piece of plywood set atop the bedding to reduce how many shavings are *near* it...

...but TIME is the biggest cure. As they get larger, they get less messy (well maybe not technically, but you get to keep the waterer higher above the bedding and that alone will make a big difference in how long the water stays clean).

Hang in there, in a week or two you will see real difference

Have fun,

Pat