What do chickens in the wild do for water?

[Chicabee19]

I have been studying quite a bit, and everyone is very careful to give water in special feeders.

What do chickens do for water in the wild? Why would a tiny spring in the ground filled with water not work for chickens in a backyard?

thanks!

 

[Bi0sC0mp]

it would my free range chickens drink the water tthat drains from our central ac unit its clean fresh and ice cold they love it..

 

[PAChickenChick]

I would think that this would be fine....as long as the water is in motion and not standing.

More than the drinking issue...I would be worried if it was big enough for any chicks/chickens to drown in. If it's not, I don't think there should be a problem.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

I have never seen chickens in the wild...are their wild chickens that someone just didn't dump someplace? Their is prob a reason there are not wild chickens around much...maybe lack of water?

Just did a search and apparently their are wild chickens in VA and even in Hawaii. I have never seen or heard of wild chickens around here at all. Interesting...I wonder what their average age is in the wild.

 

[BantyHugger]

The only "wild" Chickens i've ever heard of live in the rain forest. I assume that they just drink from puddles. People worry about they birds pooping in and then drinking dirty water. So long as they can't poo in it or it moves the dirty stuff away i think it would be fine.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Our chickens drink from our creek there is a deep end where we have our turtle and gold fish, they love to congregate there it has a lot of brush which gives them shade and all along the creek there is running water, berries along with mint where they search for bugs and eat grass.

 

[silkiechicken]

Chickens are a domestic animal, not found in the wild. They can go feral much like cats and dogs. Chickens are believed to be descended from a jungle fowl which live in the wild.

 

[scooter147]

The red jungle fowl of Asia (truely a wild chicken) find their water in creeks and puddles.
Remember that chicks really don't require water until at least the third day.
Wild turkey and pheasant chicks will drink droplets of dew from vegetation and will also find moisture from the insects they consume. Drowning of chicks especially the first week of life is a problem for wild poultry.

 

[MooseHillFarm]

Quote:
Hawaii has "wild" chickens running around all over the place. I've heard it's because of hurricanes that destroyed chicken coops, and the loose chickens went on reproduce like crazy.
Of course the weather is warm and hospitable, and it usually rains once a day, so there's probably enough puddles to keep the crowd happy. I was at a hamburger stand in Hawaii, and mama chicken, trailed by her babies came by to eat scraps.
Where I live in CT, we have plenty of thriving wild turkeys, so they must be getting enough water.

 

[Henrietta23]

Mine will drink from my little water garden pond more frequently than they do from their waterer. The water is circulating but not filtered. They've been doing it for years and it doesn't seem to hurt them any. My ducks don't have access to it. That helps keep it clean!