The Hunt for a Chicken Waterer

I wanted to share some small but very good news with my fellow readers. We finally found a waterer that works! Wahoo! Since we got the eight little hens we have been struggling to find a watering system that would be care free and provide enough water that all eight hens have the opportunity to drink at the same time.

The first one we tried was a gravity fed galvanized 3 gallon waterer. But the gravity feed on it was not working properly so the water just kept spilling over the edge until the waterer was empty and the bedding became soaked. Back to the store that went. The next two we tried were both plastic waterers, also 3 gallon I believe. The first one the handle broke off which is what controls the gravity feed. The second one the ring around the top that seals the lid snapped. Back to the store those two went as well. In between all of the returns and frustration we used a regular glass bowl in the brooder box for the chicks and when they were bigger switched over to a Tupperware tub (This is what you are seeing in the video at the top of the page). The glass bowl when they were chicks we also placed and even smaller bowl in the center to take up some of the space to prevent drowning. Chicks are not as equipped as hens to get out of water as easily and we wanted to prevent anyone for being harmed. With the Tupperware tub, this was large enough that several hens could drink at the same time in the coop and we raised it up a bit on some stones for easier access. The only big downside to these two options was we had to change the water every single day. They are not closed off watering systems and sometimes bedding would get in there or the girls would tip them over and we would have to clean up and refill. I did not mind doing this in the spring and summer because we had our garden hose right next to the coop and we could just fill it up each time. However, once winter came, it was a whole different ball game.

 Now I cannot complain too much because this winter so far has been relatively mild. However, we have had some freezing temperatures which led to frozen water in the coop. As I have mentioned in previous posts, water is essential to the hens health especially in the winter because they are consuming more food to keep warm hence they drink more water. We would have to break the ice up or dump it out and pour fresh water in. It was okay at first, but if the water in the bowl was frozen then that usually means the water in the hose was also frozen. Not the easiest task to accomplish. We would have to go inside the house fill up the waterer and bring it back out, sometimes multiple times a day depending on the weather. I really did not mind doing this for the little ladies but it was becoming quite the chore.

  This was all until Cory found the best waterer!! It is a tall skinny plastic electric waterer!! Electric!! It holds 3 gallons of water and has a plug that you just hook up to an extension cord or however you want to get power to it and boom you are done. No freezing water and no changing it every day! It is a beautiful thing! Haha. We set this up on top of a milk crate in the coop to keep it higher to make it easier for the hens to drink out of but also to keep the bedding out of it. When the hens scratch they tend to make quiet a mess and so you want to make sure their water is always clean. The waterer also has an internal thermostat so it only runs when it is beginning to get below freezing otherwise it will shut itself off! We have had it for a few months or so now and have had no complaints yet (fingers crossed).