Sunday, September 2, 2012

[CHICKENS-101] Re: Chicken Water'r

 

Hi Jenny,
  Sounds like if water freezing is a concern, you're someplace where winters are very low temps (I'm in WI, can relate! <G>), so presume are talking about the kind of an automatic waterer that requires at least a buried-below-frost-depth underground water line supply - as well as a dedicated electrical line if you don't have those both already run to there?   As well as something that keeps the water lines coming up to the waterer from freezing.......kind of like what they call post (or pillar) type auto-waterers for horses (kind of like this http://www.dpwaterer.com/)?  Heh - I've had horses for almost 2 decades now and've always wished I could afford at least one of those for them let alone for my chickens -- the water & electric lines I could do myself (with renting a ditcher to dig down deep enough to get below frost line), but the non-freeze auto-water unit itself is so expensive.
  If what you're talking about are the kind I'm thinking, 'tho, they really wouldn't be too big for chickens.  Their bowls are just big enough for a horse to stick it's nose into with comfort.  However it's the principal of how they work that wouldn't work for chickens - they have a "water release flap" in them that when pushed down on by a horse's nose going into the bowl for a drink allows the water to flow out.......the bowl remains empty & dry until that happens.  Plus find some way to adjust the insulating pillar-box's height down low enough for chickens (at a height that it'd still stay clean as well) - or maybe build something around it for them to be able to get up to and stand on to reach it (why am I suddenly envisioning perches all the way around the bowl, LOL?  Not a bad idea 'tho! <G>).
  I can't think of any other way for doing non-freezing automatic waterers for chickens than that - so far everything auto like that that I've searched up like that for poultry comes up that they will freeze.
  Sometimes we just have to pay the price if we want to have animals.  For the past decade or so that I've had poultry (chickens & Guinea fowl - only 15 or so total) I've used a heated dog water bowl in the wintertime for them and just carried a gallon container of water out with me one of the two times that I go out to feed them a day to refill it.  Until this past winter when a "duh" suddenly hit me that they really didn't need to have the entire surface of bowl's water all openly exposed to drink from, so started just leaving the gal. container full of water plopped in the center of it instead (it left enough of open edges for them to very easily drink from, and kept the jug of water thawed for simply just opening & refilling from as needed.  Just had to take a refill jug out every two or three days instead by doing that.  LOL, this year I might experiment with putting a small hole toward the bottom of a extra container to see if that works as it's own "syphon refill" like the summertime chicken waterers do!  :-)
                                      Kate in WI 
 
 
<< Posted by: "Jenny"

Speaking of freezing temps....any clever ideas out there for no-freeze
AUTOMATIC chicken waterers?  I know about those plug-in waterers that keep
the water from freezing, but what about an automatic waterer that is heated
(they make these for horses, so I suppose I could use one of those, but
they are rather large for chickens)?  I've been looking and I can't find
anything....I dread the thought of changing/filling waterers all winter.  I
am totally addicted to my automatic waterers and want them to work all year
round!

Looking forward to hearing what others do....thanks!

Jenny >>

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