what the holy hellfire is the secret to keeping chick's water clean??

[Wifezilla]

With my duckling, I bought him/her a Guinea pig waterer. Of course, JJ gets a mouth full of food, pecks the waterer, then shake his/her little head and sprays the food everywhere...LOL

 

[grullablue]

I put my waterer on two bricks to raise it up. Still was a mess. I just put a bigger waterer in there. Not the little mason jar waterer...it's probably the next size up. Maybe a gallon? It's a little deeper....so of course the lip is taller...and although they get it dirty, it takes them a day to do it...so I am only cleaning it out once a day instead of several now! They are old enough that they are going through more water now anyway....

ANgie

 

[birdsofparadise]

This sounds compulsive, but I think I solved several problems at once. After fighting with the dirty water/empty feeder problem last Fall, I got two pieces of 4" x 6" lumber. I layed them side by side on one edge of my brooder. I then made layers of litter composed of a layer of newspaper than 2" of shavings, a layer of newspaper then 2" of shavings, and a final layer of newspaper, two inches of shavings and paper towels on top. The 6" of shavings (total) reached the height of the 4" x 6" lumber. On top the lumber I placed my two mason jar chick waterers but instead of chick feeders, I put a 10 lb hanging feeder in the corner on top of the lumber too. This feeder lasts even large chicks at least a few days before it needs to be refilled and it doesnʻt clog up with shavings either.

Now, for the first few days, the chicks are on the paper towels and are even with the elevated waterer & feeder. Then I remove the towels on day 4 or 5 and let them get used to the shavings. At this point they are still too small to really kick up a fuss in the shavings. When the first layer of shavings is soiled (about day 21), I just roll it up with its newspaper base layer and voila there is the next later of clean shavings and the waterer/feeder is at the right height for the chicks. After another two weeks (day 35 or so), I remove the middle layer of shavings and newspaper and the feeder/waterer is still at the right height for the growing chicks. Here in Hawaii, by the time the final layer of shavings is soiled, the chicks should be out of the brooder/hover and on their own.

This may work because my brooder is large (4ʻ x 4ʻ) and deep (2ʻ) but I presume it could be sized accordingly for whatever you are using. Best of all, no hysterical chicks when I have to change the litter. They act confused as Iʻm rolling up the dirty stuff, but just hop over onto the new clean layer. And both the waterers and feeder stay clean.

 

[Akane]

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v244/aqh88/chickens/brooder/hatch%204/?action=view&current=SANY1460.flv
Less than 24hrs old. I removed the dish by the end of the day cause they weren't using it and haven't used a chick waterer since.

 

[Kimiko]

I use the plastic bottom from a plant pot and set the waterer in it when the chicks are on paper towels. Keeps the water from spilling all over the towels and keeps the chicks out of the water for the most part while still allowing them to drink. (This does NOT work with day old bantam chicks--they can't reach)

When they go to shavings, I raise the waterer and pot bottom on a paver.

I'll try and post a pic later.....

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I made a wooden table (Very easy to make) high enough for my hens to just be able to drink without having to jump up on it. Works well for keeping pine shavings out. If it's the goo your worried about then I would add the vinegar as recommended . That does seem to help. Good luck!

 

[fargosmom]

While our chicks were in their cardboard brooder I was using the red-bottom Mason jar waterer and my solution to keeping it cleaner was to use 6 chopsticks rubber-banded around the jar to form a little picket fence over the bottle. This kept the chicks from sitting on top of the jar, thus keeping most of the poo out of the water. Then I set it on a brick to raise it out of the shavings, and two bricks when they got old enough to reach that high. Here's a picture:

This kept our water-changes to about 2-3 times a day.
Hope this helps!

 

[magsrags]

I am for the first time trying a water bottle & WOW, it is working! I keep a chick waterer in there the first few days as well ....but they will use that water bottle! No muss.....no fuss. The kind you can hang off the side of a cage or box is perfect with that adjustable metal hanger.

 

[chickiebaby]

love the chopsticks! Darn, but people are smart and creative!

 

[Wifezilla]

That water bottle works great. I was surprised at how quick my duck figured it out.