Can anyone help on Watering designs in the coop?

[jtotherow]

How about Waterings? We have an Uncle that has a turkey Farm and changed over his watering system and gave us a lot of his old watering sytem that still works. I don't know why he swtiched and wasn't concerned until I followed his instruction of having at least 3 for all the chickens I have. The problem is that they're not drinking enough to keep the algea from growing. I asked my husband to break them down to two and see how it worked but I really feel we dont' need more than one.

This system streams fresh water in as they drink down the water thats there. It's set up with our water hose that is buried to keep it cool.

We are constantly washing out these waterers as much as the old one where we watered them everyday and they stepped into those but can't on these. Am I wrong about one? We have 34 chickens. I went this way because I know how important fresh water is for them.

Can anyone help me?

 

[kartking22]

I use a Little Giant model 2500 automatic fountain. It's connected to a plastic 55 gallon barrel because I was too lazy to keep carrying five gallon pails everyday to water my birds. I fill the barrel with a garden hose about once a month now. The barrel does seem to get some growth in it but I purposely overfill it to flush this out of the top. Just an idea. Seems to work well for me.

 

[rstampa]

Any water will grow algae. That's the world we live in. Even our most purest water streams have algae. All I can suggest is for you occasionally clean it out or you could run some bleach through it to kill the algae. However make sure you flush it through with clean water afterwords.

 

[SimplyForties]

Apple cider vinegar is pretty good against algae. Wouldn't help with the hose setup but might work pretty well with the barrel.

 

[patandchickens]

Yup, it doesn't matter how many chickens are drinking from a waterer, slime will grow on its submerged surfaces no matter what. You just DO have to scrub them out regularly. Just go 'round with a bucket (to dump into) and a scrub brush, it's not a big deal.

If you are getting algae growing *in the water* (so that it gets pea-soup-y) then you really need to get your water supply tested -- that, or an excessively fast growth of an algal slime on submerged surfaces, is usually telling you that your water is dangerously high in nitrates, which you want to know about for human health as well as chicken health reasons.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Freebird]

Quote:
I have a similar setup using the little giant automatic water bowls. I add apple cider vinegar to the barrel everytime I fill it up, about a liter per 55 gallons. The barrel stays pretty clean, as it is virtually opaque and situated in the shade, for the most part, and the vinegar helps as well. Works pretty well.