I really expected to like the nipple waterers and do offer them to the baby birds, but just don’t think they get enough water if that’s the sole source.
The idea with holes is interesting, but doesn’t that just give you a couple inches before the water is out of reach? Maybe I’m not picturing it right?
I was thinking something like this but putting the holes up higher. Never tried it, and you would need a square container, but it should work the same as a feeder.
I always put out a bowl as extra in the worst of the heat or when it was super cold but mine never had trouble with the horizontal nipples.
THAT’S MY FEEDER AND BIRDS :lol:
I should have been more specific on the feeder. The hanging galvanized ones, with the decent depth lip on the bottom works pretty well. It’s the plastic ones that they seem to bill a lot out of.
I like the 6 gallon Harris Farms Ez Fill waterers, but a lot of people seem to have trouble with them. The octagon shaped ones hold a lot, but I find it a bit of a pain refilling the smaller hole on top. I made a 5 gallon horizontal nipple waterer and they don’t use it well enough to my liking, sadly.
I have the plastic ones and don’t lose feed. They don’t scoop it out or waste any. They just eat.
These ones, I think. Or maybe the very similar slightly bigger 10# version. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/harris-farms-chicken-feeder-7-lb
I like the 6 gallon Harris Farms Ez Fill waterers, but a lot of people seem to have trouble with them. The octagon shaped ones hold a lot, but I find it a bit of a pain refilling the smaller hole on top. I made a 5 gallon horizontal nipple waterer and they don’t use it well enough to my liking, sadly.
Do you fill that in place or carry it back and forth from the coop to the water source?
Maybe it’s just my pigs that scoop so much out of them :lol: The chicks are the worst. I suppose I should probably hang them higher too, but I’ve just gone to using all troughs basically. I also almost always feed crumble, and not pellets. That may make a difference too.
Do you fill that in place or carry it back and forth from the coop to the water source?
Always in place. I think that might be why people end up with them leaking, by carrying them every time. I got it put together properly, sat it on a level cinderblock, and I leave it there. I carry it over to clean it out occasionally, but I don’t carry it full.
Nope, in almost 10yrs of keeping chickens I have never had poop in my waterbowl.
The bricks keep it just about head-height for them. Maybe too lazy to jump up there?
Although the roosts are higher & they seem fine getting up on them.
Most of my poop-scooping takes place on the boards beneath the roosts.
@Mosey_2003 I started with crumbles, but they seemed to fling them around too much. Pellets seem to stay put in the feeder & the few that do get flung still get eaten off the floor of the coop.
Mine don’t perch on heated water bowls either, or a 2 gallon bucket. However, the first couple years I used an old 5 gallon heated one I had from the horse and just put a cinder block next to it, and they DID perch on that. I didn’t think much of it until I came home one cold December day and found one stuck inside :eek: She had to come in for a hot shower and a blow dry :lol: I called her Swimmer after that. And got a smaller bucket.
Mine are super polite with the feed but would totally crap in a water bucket :lol: :lol: And probably tip it over, sigh.
Hauling the hose out to the coop to fill the waterer in place is just … ugh. Please no. Gotta have something I can carry back and forth instead :-/
I don’t haul a hose, I fill up a regular 5 gallon bucket and carry that. So either way, I carry a bucket.
Oh. I honestly never considered that :lol: Good idea!
For the record, I don’t mean to sound like a know it all 
I just get really excited about chickens 
:lol:
It is easy to get hyped, isn’t it?
Who knew 5# of feathers could have so much personality & entertainment value.
OhEmGee! On your “Swimmer” :eek:
I went into my coop one afternoon & found my favorite Houdan hanging upside down, feet tangled in the baling twine the feeder hangs from.
How she managed to get there I’ll never know.
I thought she was dead 
I untangled her, put her down on the coop floor & miraculously, she was alive - she must have struggled, then fainted.
I considered renaming her Gaslight.
Late to this party but I love my hennies. I started with 5 adults from my feed guy, but as they got old and started dying off, I got some chicks from Agway last spring. I got 6, one was a roo who miraculously disappeared right as he was getting annoying, and now I have a tight flock of 5 girls.
They are now full-grown, they have been laying since mid October.
They eat out of a horse feed pan on the ground. I have a heated waterer since it’s NH and things freeze. It’s a pain to fill - small hole, tipping it upside down etc, but you do what you do.
They LOVE being outside and survived all summer in the pasture and yard - they hang with the horses. They go out in all weather although they don’t really like snow.
One is super smart and knows how to climb up a big ramp I made to get back inside. One is cuddly and wants to sit in my lap ALL THE TIME. The others are pleasant and often very chatty. Only one is skittish but once when she didn’t come in before dark and I found her she was totally ok with me picking her up and bringing her in.
They love shredded cheese, strawberries, cabbage. Green beans and asparagus are not appreciated.
Gaslight! :lol:
I generally don’t give them names, they’re all Barred Rocks and look pretty similar. My rooster is generally “Big Guy,” the one I have now is still, “Little Buddy” because he was young when I got him. Although, he’s not so little now! I’m super pleased with him so far, he’s even been breeding the hens much younger than I expected. Do no regret spending the money and having him shipped, just hope he nicks well with my hen line. The two I’ve tagged to breed this spring are Pinky and Orangina, to reflect their leg band colors :winkgrin:
I made a nipple waterer out of a plastic cat litter jug. I cleaned it well, obviously, and then drilled a hole in the lid and a hole on each side to screw in the horizontal nipples. It works great, even with young chicks, and I haven’t had any trouble with birds not getting enough water. Since it has a lid, the chickens don’t kick shavings into it, and it’s easy to move/fill because it has a built-in handle.
I lost all my chickens over the winter to a raccoon. But I’m getting ready to have a new, “Fort Knox” coop built and have already placed my order for spring chicks!
Until I started this thread, I had no idea raccoons killed chickens. And I used to think they were so cute and adorable. Not sure I’ll be able to look at raccoons the same way again!
So sorry @Montanas_Girl for the loss of your flock.
@4LeafCloverFarm Not only do coons kill hens, but they do it by ripping the heads off & leaving the rest :mad:
Sorry, but when I lose a hen I want to know what did it & different varmints have different MOs.
@Mosey_2003 I named my first flock of 5 because I could tell them apart:
The Delaware sisters - Noodle & Salad
Black Stars: The Harlettes (after Bette’s backup singers :D)
& The Houdan: Misty Cologne < for a friend’s drag name
When I added 2 chicks I named them for friends: Connie & the rooster for her husband, a former Chgo cop: Sergeant Toenings.
Then a doomed (Marek’s) Wyandotte for another friend: Penny
Current flock has too few distinguishing marks, so they’re just The Girls
Unfortunately, EVERYTHING kills chickens. Raccoons? Yep, and they have smart little hands that open latches or reach through chicken wire. Possums? Yep. Weasels? Yep. Rats? Yep. Foxes, bobcats, coyotes? Yep yep yep, no surprises there, though. Hawks, owls, eagles? Yep. Bear? Yeah, those guys, too.
If it’s a carnivore or an omnivore, and it lives near you, it’s going to be interested in your birds Everything loves chicken!
Yes, there were two foxes that stopped by my coop regularly. One at sunrise heading east and one later in the evening going west. My yard was surrounded by a 6 foot, solid privacy fence but they dug a hole under it and initially tried to dig into the run. After about a year, I think it was just to see if anything had changed and the chickens quit making a scene so they mostly peeked in and went on their way. Many times I found muddy raccoon prints around the door latches or on the walls where they had gotten on a bucket I left out and tried to climb higher.
While looking at one of the homesteading Youtubers that pops up on my feed, I came across this interesting waterer that shouldn’t be hard to make or keep clean. Not the rain barrel so much as what he attached to it. First part starts around 6:00 minutes and you can see them drinking at 13:30.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
