water and food advice

I am copying and pasting this post I made in the raising baby chicks forum because I thought this might be a better place for it. Mods can let me know if this isn't allowed, I'm new here! -- Hello! My partner and I are raising a flock for the first time. We have 4 Buff Orpingtons and 3 silver...

Hello! My partner and I are raising a flock for the first time. We have 4 Buff Orpingtons and 3 silver laced Wyandottes. They are 2 weeks old as of yesterday and from everything we can tell, they seem to be thriving! I have a couple of (hopefully quick) questions about their feed and water...

Hi! My husband is working on adding gutters to our coop so we can use a rain barrel to supply our water bar with water. He has traditional gutter sealant (from a box store) for the gutters. Is that safe to use if we will be using rain water pulled off the gutters to fill our barrel? Is...

I do not have water or feeders in my coop. I bought the grandpa feeder to keep mice etc out and I have a large nipple waterer and a galvanized waterer with heating to keep the water from freezing. Last year i fought mice a little bit, got rid of all of them as far as I can tell since I tore...

I am looking for ideas to minimize how often I need to refill the food and water for my chickens. I have 23 pullets and 1 cockerel. Growing up, we always had 20-30 chickens with a coop and run. The original coop was 100 years old, rotted and torn down about 5 years ago. The original water was...

How do you get chicks to use water nipples instead of the regular waterer where they can just dip their beak? Im struggling here. The same when I tried to convert my 18 week hens over. They seem clueless. I don't want them to thirst to death so I leave another water option out for them as well.

Hi! I am about to setup an aquaponic system next to the chicken run to grow food just for them and my ducks. I was originally just going to go hydro but had an idea... has anyone made or seen an aquaponic system used for watering chickens and ducks? My idea would to have pvc pipe along the run...

I am a first timer here so please go easy on me! We finally finished our coop and run. The chickens all love it outside in the run but won’t go into the coop. I tried putting them in the coop first and they all just ran out. I’ve even moved their food and water to inside but they won’t go in and...

My 2 week old Silkie chick has wry neck and I’ve separated her from the main brooder. I put in a water feeder along with her food, but her lack of balance due to wry neck has led her to fall into the water tray. She cant always get herself out so I decided the risk for drowning was too high...

do my hens really need grit and oyster shells? if so would y'all mind recommending some brands for me? and also feel free to list some things you wish someone would've told you when you first got chickens. i'm a new owner and i want to give my girls lots of activities to do and keep them...

Need advice. I have 4 chickens 15 weeks old, that have been using a gravity type small chick waterer since they were a day old. I have tried unsuccessfully to switch them to a cup waterer which got dirty and they never quite go the hang of. Now I’ve got a nipple waterer in the coop that the...

Hi! I already have 11 chickens and I have a different section away from them where i planned on raising ducks. We ordered 4 from Metzer farms and they will arrive soon. But, we just rescued 2 chicks and since my flock of 11 is already established i was wondering if i could have the ducks and 2...

Guys & gals (& everything in between)- I'm struggling over here! I'm new to the chicken (and duck) world and there is SO MUCH information out there! I am very thankful for that, but between all of my obligations I'm finding it hard to find the time to find what I need in all of it. Our babies...

Hi y’all! My flock is SO happy to now be “Free Ranging” out in what I call their chicken sanctuary! They go in their coop at night and by 8 o’clock am I hear them Coooooo coooo coooing for me to open the door so they can roam!! My questions are as followed, 1) Do they need food & water outside...

Hi everyone, We are just about to hit Summer here and it is already starting to get extremely hot during the days. I feel that Summer is going to be a really hot one. Just wanted to start getting prepared for it. How do you keep your flock cool in the warmer seasons?

I am trying the broody hen thing where we let her hatch some eggs. We have one other chicken and there were 2 eggs under the broody hen. We just found one that was partly hatched and dead, and the other one hasn't hatched yet. We aren't sure if she got crushed because the other hen is using the...

First time chicken owner here. Is there any way that I can train my chickens to use the horizontal nipples? I have both that bucket(which has a heater to keep the water from freezing in the winter) and a standard waterer available. My chickens will use the nipples if I show it to them by...

We have a predictor problem so we want to lock up the quail at night away from the wire floor. Do they need access to food and water at night?

Hello Everyone, Need some assistance as I may just be over-concerned :idunno. I am using the Harris Farms Poultry Watering Cup, introduced recently (within 2 weeks). https://www.backyardchickens.com/reviews/harris-farms-poultry-watering-cup.11790/ Now I have seen 2 of the flock use the cup...

Hello! I have been using galvanised water buckets for my 10 chicken flock for a year. It has been so easy really, to fill the scattered buckets in the run and fenced yard with the hose. I freshen them up in the afternoon if it is hot. During the freezing months, I put them on an automatic heater...