What do you place your waterer on?

[tammylynn4647]

Hi all
The chicks are two weeks old now and doing great. My only issue is the darn waterer. It keeps leaking and there is always pine chips in it. I know that the waterer would probably not leak if it was on an even surface - hard to do on pine chips. What do you all use to raise the waterer and make it level? Thanks!

 

[TOP KNOT]

Hi! Only just this morning I put my 10 day old chicks waterer on 2 pieces of old trim we tore out of the house. First I used my hand to make shavings as flat as possible then I faced the skinny sides of the boards in and set the water on it. Shim the ''low'' ends with more shavings to make level. you could use 2 1x4 or 2 1x3 to set it on. Getting it up some helps keep the junk out of it. If you don't have scrap boards the local lumber stores will cut some for you and may have scrap they may give you Good luck!

 

[BarefootMom]

I am done with that! Check out the brooder bottle caps that fit on to soda bottles. The Chicken Fountain is selling the caps for $3 each free shipping. I found them on Facebook, but you have to order from their website. My chicks that hatched just this weekend had it figured out in a matter of minutes! SOOO much cleaner and less messy!

Before I used to set the waterer on a little platform I made of wood... with block steps up to it. But they still managed to poop in it and track in it. I don't think there is anyway to keep them clean lol. The pellets do help for bedding, they don't track as much as the shavings, but they still get in there. I use wood pellets intended for horse stalls in my brooders.

Here is a pic of my water setup -

 

[BarefootMom]

I also have a you tube video that I made last night if you want to watch it. This is my first time using these things and I am in love. Thinking about ordering more of them!! I ordered 5...

(and no I am in no way affiliated with the company - just an amazed customer!)

 

[OCpeep]

I will be doing the same setup as BarefootMom. I already have a 5-gallon bucket nipple waterer with auto-fill in the coop so this will be practice for the chicks.

As for your immediate problem, put a piece of scrap 2x4 under the waterer. I think I used a Gladware plastic containers (whatever I found around the house) to set the feeder and waterer up a little higher in my last brooder. It won't totally solve the issue of the pine shavings getting in but will reduce it.

 

[tammylynn4647]

Barefoot, Thank You!!! I just purchased two of them...Sounds like this will save me tons of time and frustration!

 

[tammylynn4647]

In the meantime, I will be taking the advice of putting some wood in there. Thanks again for the ideas!

 

[loves2hatch]

I just ordered some of the push in poultry nipples too. before that I put the waterer on top of those paint tray things that fit on the inside of a 5 gallon bucket. I covered that with paper towles until they were a couple days old and their little feet wouldn't fall through the holes. But they still managed to get the bedding in it when they scratched.

 

[BarefootMom]

I just ordered some of the push in poultry nipples too. before that I put the waterer on top of those paint tray things that fit on the inside of a 5 gallon bucket. I covered that with paper towles until they were a couple days old and their little feet wouldn't fall through the holes. But they still managed to get the bedding in it when they scratched.

Mine are made just for chicks - they are smaller then the regular poultry nipples. They come on soda bottle caps ready to be screwed on.

 

[loves2hatch]

Mine are made just for chicks - they are smaller then the regular poultry nipples. They come on soda bottle caps ready to be screwed on.

Oh no, So I probably ordered the wrong ones? ugggg I didn't know there was a difference.