What to do about watering?!

[raro]

I have five red comet hens who have access to the grassy area under my deck, which has lattice all around it. I want them to be out in the yard, but we have a lot of hawks around here, so I made a small tractor for them. (We call it the playpen). I am trying to figure a way to connect it to the under-deck area because it would be a lot more room. And in the process I'm trying to make a larger tractor.

However, in the meantime I have had all sorts of problems with water. I got a traditional red-and-white watering thingy and tried hanging it like I hung the feed. They kept knocking it over and spilling ALL of the water. So I put it on the little porch area, and they seem to be fine with that. But when they're in the tractor, the ground is grassy and usually lumpy. Every time, they knock over the waterer. I tried hanging it, but they manage to knock it over still. Any ideas?!? They have no problem with food, don't really spill a whole lot, but water is the issue. I worry when I go out to check on them and they have no water! There doesn't seem to be a flat, nonmoveable place to set the waterer. And the playpen is made of hardware cloth and PVC pipe, so it's pretty flimsy compared to some tractors I've seen.

I hope this makes sense?! How do you keep water from spilling in a moveable tractor?!

 

[Yay Chicks!]

I keep the water set up on cement blocks. But that's in the run. I suppose you could hang a nipple type waterer in the tractor?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Having your waterer on cement blocks or bricks alleviate a lot of problems, e.g. spilling, dirt in the waterer etc.

 

[swordgeek]

What is the capacity of the waterer? I found that the smaller ones were easily tipped, but the larger ones are just too heavy for the birds to knock over. I also keep mine elevated on blocks - cinder, bricks, and also a good-size cross-section of a tree stump.

When mine are free-ranging, I usually fill a large plastic dog bowl with cold water for them to drink. Maybe it's the tapered edge of the thing, but they don't ever tip that over, either. It does get a bit dirty (mostly from my Polish rooster's head feathers), but is easily refilled with a hose.

 

[briteday]

Try a rabbit water bottle with the tube sipper. They come in fairly large sizes or you can always just hang more than one.