# Question about water containers



## dmkrieg (Jul 11, 2017)

Hello everyone, I'm still very new to
Chickens. I have currently have 26 chickens in a 12 x 30 enclosure inside my barn with a doggy door that opens up to a 16 x 30 run. I currently change the 4 water containers every morning. However, I was thinking in the winter how do you keep the water buckets from having to be cleaned daily and from freezing up?


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I take it you live in a climate that gets quite cold in Winter?

Do you have power to the coop? Many use heated waterers.

I just swapped mine out in the morning when I lived where the waterers could freeze over night. Or if I felt energetic I would put the waterers in a bin in the evening, top down and most of the time in the AM I could pull them out and set them back up. There would be some frost but they still worked.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

I don't clean our waterer up but 1 or 2 times a week. I don't have electric power to my coop so in freezing weather we make sure that the chickens have free water at least daily. However we don't have long winters here in the south. So, that said, it depends on your area. 
BTW, welcome!!

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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Patti brings up a good point. What type of water containers do you use to have to change them out daily? That's sounds like alot of work to me.
I change water and clean 3 waterers once or twice a week during the summer. Winter time it's once a week or week and a half because the birds drink less water.
I hang the waterers in the pens. There's much less chance the birds contaminate their drinking water. Like the others mentioned, heated waterers are available for winter.


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## dmkrieg (Jul 11, 2017)

dawg53 said:


> Patti brings up a good point. What type of water containers do you use to have to change them out daily? That's sounds like alot of work to me.
> I change water and clean 3 waterers once or twice a week during the summer. Winter time it's once a week or week and a half because the birds drink less water.
> I hang the waterers in the pens. There's much less chance the birds contaminate their drinking water. Like the others mentioned, heated waterers are available for winter.
> View attachment 28094


I have one like Dawg53 has, I have 3 other ones that hang that are similar. I bought one with the little water nipples (sorry if that isn't the proper thing to call them) but they won't drink out of that one.


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## nannypattyrn (Aug 23, 2015)

The nipple waterer didn't work for me either. My waterer is a 5 gallon similar to the others. When it get really ad with algae, I fill with stop it up, fill it with water and a couple of cups of bleach and let it set until its clear. Then rinse and fill with fresh water. WaLa!

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## Maryellen (Jan 21, 2015)

In the winter I use heated dog bowls and heated stands with metal water containers

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## Sylvester017 (Nov 2, 2013)

dmkrieg said:


> Hello everyone, I'm still very new to
> Chickens. I have currently have 26 chickens in a 12 x 30 enclosure inside my barn with a doggy door that opens up to a 16 x 30 run. I currently change the 4 water containers every morning. However, I was thinking in the winter how do you keep the water buckets from having to be cleaned daily and from freezing up?


I was having a heck of a time keeping water bowls clean for only 4 chickens. They kicked dirt into the bowls, their dirty beaks muddied the water, I had a Leghorn that like to STAND in the water bowls, had to change out water 2 to 3x daily. The last straw for me is when the wild sparrows and finches left their droppings in the drinking bowls. Yuch! I switched to Brite Tap nipple valve waterers that came in an assembly package with a Rubbermaid jug. I can go days/weeks before having to clean out the jugs and no more muddy water, no algae buildup, easy-to-carry 2-gallon jugs accommodate up to 12 chickens each -- I have 3 Brite Tap jugs. During our yard remodel we easily moved the jugs around the yard. Keep them in a shady spot, add ice cubes a little each day, and the water stays fresh and cold. Our Black Silkie took "showers" under the nipple valves! Brite Tap jug assembly is not cheap but customers can save some money and insert the Brite Tap into buckets, pitchers, or their own jug choices. Can't help you with your winter freezing situation but for warmer summer months these Brite Taps are great and can stand alone or be hung up inside a coop.
http://www.chickenwaterer.com/BriteTap-Chicken-Waterer-Cooler-Combo-Pack-p/bt100-2gal-combo.htm


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## dmkrieg (Jul 11, 2017)

Ive been hanging them in my stalls but I don't think I'm hanging them high enough because they keep kicking shavings and dirt into them. The little brats. Lol. I will change how they hang this weekend. Currently they are hung on bungies which when full are very close to the ground.


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Clothesline works great. It's cheap, doesnt stretch and lasts for years. Here's how mine are rigged up:


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## chickenqueen (Jan 9, 2016)

That's the waterer I use but never thought about hanging it.I've got mine on blocks.It would stay clean if the geese stayed out of it.They get the water so nasty.I have a bucket for them so they can dunk their heads when penned up.I read they get "sticky eye" if they can't dunk their head.I don't know what that is and I don't want to find out.LOL When I dump the water out,there is like 2" of food at the bottom and the surface is bubbly and it stinks.They foul it up in less than 12 hours.Gross!!!!


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## dawg53 (Aug 25, 2015)

Rigged up like I got, you can easily raise or lower it as you see fit. I dont know about geese though, never owned them.


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## Sylvester017 (Nov 2, 2013)

I had a problem with chicks kicking brooder bedding into the waterer and a chickenforum member suggested I raise the waterer onto a brick or book and since then there's much less debris kicked into the waterer. Now, if I could only keep them from standing in the feed dish! They can't jump into the waterer but they hang onto the feeder and run around in circles on it like a raceway!

3 LITTLE EXHAUSTED CHICKS RESTING


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## Sylvester017 (Nov 2, 2013)

Something I learned from the Brite Tap nipple valve waterer people -- if trying to train older chickens to use nipple valves for the first time, all OTHER sources of water have to be eliminated so that only the nipple valves are available for drinking. My Black Silkie caught onto the nipple valves when I kept tapping on them to let the water dribble. The next day, the other Silkie caught on how to use the valves. It took my thirsty but cautious Blue Wheaten Ameraucana 9 days before she ventured to use the nipple valves after watching the Silkies all week. Meanwhile, I left out cantaloupe, cucumber, and watermelon so she would keep hydrated until she finally used the nipple waterers. I thought the dumb-dumb would never learn but here she is finally using the nipple valves:


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

I finally found waterers I like. They have to be level, tho. The lid comes off and you can fill it easily because the water is held by a separate chamber. The lid is big and does not close tight.

If I were in the cold, I would probably bring 2 waterers out with me in the morning with fresh water, and take the two others back in to clean and refill. I would be using maybe 2-3 gallon waterers to carry. 

When I had horses in NY, it was carrying buckets of hot water out every night. And I refilled in the afternoon by running a hose , filling, and then emptying the entire hose so there would be no frozen water in it.


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## dmkrieg (Jul 11, 2017)

seminolewind said:


> I finally found waterers I like. They have to be level, tho. The lid comes off and you can fill it easily because the water is held by a separate chamber. The lid is big and does not close tight.
> 
> If I were in the cold, I would probably bring 2 waterers out with me in the morning with fresh water, and take the two others back in to clean and refill. I would be using maybe 2-3 gallon waterers to carry.
> 
> When I had horses in NY, it was carrying buckets of hot water out every night. And I refilled in the afternoon by running a hose , filling, and then emptying the entire hose so there would be no frozen water in it.


Seminolewind- do the waters you use have the little nipples in it? I can't get mine to use those for whatever reason. Maybe If I put sugar after in it or something. I didn't try that


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## Sylvester017 (Nov 2, 2013)

dmkrieg said:


> Seminolewind- do the waters you use have the little nipples in it? I can't get mine to use those for whatever reason. Maybe If I put sugar after in it or something. I didn't try that


I was worried my adult hens wouldn't use the nipple valves. The Brite Tap people have a video plus they helped me online to get my hens to learn how to use them. Nipple valves are easy for chicks to pick up on how to use them since they peck at everything anyway. But adult hens that have been accustomed to other water containers must have all containers removed and only the nipple valve waterers available. I had to go outside up to 20x in the first day to tap the nipple valves and let the water dribble so the hens could see where the water source was. The smartest hen caught on immediately and had fun taking a "shower" under the valves. The 2nd hen learned on the 2nd day when I kept tapping the valves. It took my overly-cautious Ameraucana 9 days to finally trust using the valves but I did not provide any other water source while she learned how to use the valves by watching the other hens. It's been such a blessing having the nipple valves because the water stays clean for days and days and the wild birds can't poop or mess up the waterers. I considered the automatic open valve waterers but again the wild birds can perch on the little cups and poop in the water. The hanging nipple valves can only be touched/reached by chicken beaks.


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## seminole wind (Aug 22, 2015)

dmkrieg said:


> Seminolewind- do the waters you use have the little nipples in it? I can't get mine to use those for whatever reason. Maybe If I put sugar after in it or something. I didn't try that


I tried once to get into something almost like a nipple and could never get it to work. So I have these waterers that I can drop ice into easily, and do like them.


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