The past three weeks I have been sitting at home recovering from knee surgery.
Having all this free time, I began the quest for ideas on a winter watering solution.
These boards are an amazing source of information and there are so, so many wonderful ideas. I don't have a big flock (yet...) only 6 lovely ladies, but I wanted something that I can set up and not fret over.
The more I read about nipple waterers, the more I liked that idea. Not having to clean the waterer as much means more time to spend with them. I didn't want to take up room inside their "indoor" part of the coop, so whatever I chose needed to be in the outdoor run. After much reading, I chose a bucket with nipples and a bucket de-icer. It took the girls all of about 15 seconds to figure out the nipples, I'm so proud of them!!!
Being laid up, I wasn't able to make my own, so I bought a ready made bucket waterer for $35, shipped. I know I could have made it myself much cheaper, but sometimes you gotta just bite the bullet. i got the de-icer on sale at Big-R for $34, so it cost me about $70 for piece of mind for our girls. To me, a small price to pay to keep them happy and comfy.
It got down well below freezing last night; it's still only 23 degrees outside at 0800 hours, and they are happily pecking away at the nipples. Hubby brought them some of our scratch mix this morning at 0600 hours and he said the water was room temperature. I just looked out the window and one would think they would be inside their insulated cop keeping warm, but no, they are outside! Silly girls!
On a different note, they will be 30 weeks old tomorrow and I STILL have two not laying. One Barred Rock and one Australorp. I might be making some homemade chicken soup soon!!
Thank you all so much for providing your knowledge and experience to all of us newbie BYC owners! You guys ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Having all this free time, I began the quest for ideas on a winter watering solution.
These boards are an amazing source of information and there are so, so many wonderful ideas. I don't have a big flock (yet...) only 6 lovely ladies, but I wanted something that I can set up and not fret over.
The more I read about nipple waterers, the more I liked that idea. Not having to clean the waterer as much means more time to spend with them. I didn't want to take up room inside their "indoor" part of the coop, so whatever I chose needed to be in the outdoor run. After much reading, I chose a bucket with nipples and a bucket de-icer. It took the girls all of about 15 seconds to figure out the nipples, I'm so proud of them!!!
Being laid up, I wasn't able to make my own, so I bought a ready made bucket waterer for $35, shipped. I know I could have made it myself much cheaper, but sometimes you gotta just bite the bullet. i got the de-icer on sale at Big-R for $34, so it cost me about $70 for piece of mind for our girls. To me, a small price to pay to keep them happy and comfy.
It got down well below freezing last night; it's still only 23 degrees outside at 0800 hours, and they are happily pecking away at the nipples. Hubby brought them some of our scratch mix this morning at 0600 hours and he said the water was room temperature. I just looked out the window and one would think they would be inside their insulated cop keeping warm, but no, they are outside! Silly girls!
On a different note, they will be 30 weeks old tomorrow and I STILL have two not laying. One Barred Rock and one Australorp. I might be making some homemade chicken soup soon!!
Thank you all so much for providing your knowledge and experience to all of us newbie BYC owners! You guys ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
