Getting chickens water?

[Imaginethat!]

What is your favorite method of keeping your chickens watered? Do you use a pan, a bottle with that little steel ball thingy?

If you are in a place where water freezes in winter, how do you keep your chickens having fresh water?

Right now, mine are drinking out of saucers of water. When I buy a waterer, I want to do it once, and do it right!

Same questions for the chicken feed? What is your favorite way to keep your chickens feed clean and available?

Thanks!

Imaginethat!

 

[A.T.Hagan]

You'll need a heater to keep it from freezing in the winter if you live in a cold area, but I prefer a double walled fount for my birds. Easy to fill, clean, and transport.

For feed I much prefer a tube feeder over anything. Scratch feed I just toss on the ground.

.....Alan.

 

[WalknTrot]

I use a double walled fount outside in the summer for water. In winter I have one of those heated dog bowls inside the coop. It holds enough water for 4-5 days and has been pretty indestructable. For feeding I use a round hanging feeder inside the coop. It holds about 20lbs. of feed and the girls can't scratch it out easily.

 

[Sarrah]

We also use the galvanized double wall waterer. I put it up on a couple of concrete blocks so it is head high and they keep their feetsies out of it. I keep it undercover in a corner. We don't get heavy freezing here in the winter so keeping it ice free is not a problem.
DH built a wooden feeder he fastened to the outside wall of the run. It is made of plywood. The top lifts and he can pour in 25 lbs of feed at a time.
The bottom is open with a lip so the food stays in. It is also mounted up high enough so they are eating at shoulder height. The size of it is roughly 2ft high x 2ft wide by 6 inches thick.

 

[PilotFighter]

I use 5 big plastic pans I found for less than a buck each. They hold about 3 gallons of water each, and are very easy to keep clean. Also have a few kiddie pools that are always full of water. The ducks and geese use just one and they all drink out of the other two.

 

[summerthyme]

The black rubber "feed pans" you can find at livestock supply places work great. Especially because you can ram them around to knock ice out of them without cracking them a bit.

I found plug in dog dishes at WalMart that I use in the winter, now, though. They only hold a gallon or a little more, but they work great, and I think my hens get more water with them than they did when I only added warm water twice a day during the coldest part of the winter.

During the summer, I use the big plastic waterers that hold 5 gallons and meter it out. You need to put them up on a stand of some sort to keep the idiotic birds from filling the trough with bedding and dirt.

For my turkeys I have an automatic float water bucket that it made for cows and horses. They can drink a LOT of water on hot days, and that way I never have to worry about them running out.

Summerthyme

 

[marsh]

I use the double walled galvanized. Because I sometimes have to leave for a few days on work, I back it up with a big galvanized washtub with an automatic drip irrigation timer to keep it full. They seem to do ok.

We have about a month in winter when the waterers freeze. Then I keep one in the basement to thaw and one outside and change them every day. Do any of the heated ones have their own power source? I don't have electricity in the coop and sure would like to figure out a better winter system so I could visit my children at holidays.

 

[yellowsprings]

I have a lamp hanging in the coop a few feet directly over the water which is in a galvanized double walled container. For the most part this has worked. In the deep of the night when the light is out it occasionally, in the coldest part of winter, will start to form ice crystals (as it sits next to the door).

I have a wireless thermometer mounted in the coop which transmits the temperature to the base in the kitchen. If I see that the temp is close to freezing during the day, I will turn on the lamp and that keeps it from freezing. Otherwise, the light is on a timer.