For Metabolism

“Water is involved in every aspect of poultry metabolism. It plays important roles in regulating body temperature, digesting food, and eliminating body wastes. At normal temperatures, poultry consume at least twice as much water as feed. When heat stress occurs, water consumption will double or quadruple.”

The Essential Nutrient

“Water is often taken for granted, and yet it is probably the most essential nutrient. Water is by far the single greatest constituent of the body, and, in general, represents about 70% of total body weight. Access to water is very important, and a lack of water for several hours will probably cause a decline in egg production. Hens are more sensitive to a lack of water than a lack of feed.”

Amount of Water Needed

“Water and food consumption rates are interdependent, so reduced water intake can also lead to reduced food intake. There are other factors that affect water intake, with temperature being the most obvious one. For example, chickens drink between 30-50% more water when the environmental temperature is above 32oC compared with when it is 21oC. Water intake is also affected by the type of drinkers used. The rule of thumb for water intake is that water intake is usually 1.5 to 2 times feed intake.”

For Digestion

“Water in the crop softens the feed so that digestion can occur. Without the water, dry feed forms clumps in the crop that can press on the bird’s carotid artery, decreasing blood flow to the brain. This can cause paralysis and possible death. Poultry anatomy complicates matters. A split in the upper hard palate of the beak allows air into the nasal passages and prevents the chicken from forming a vacuum in its mouth. Hens, therefore, rely on gravity to draw water into the crop.”

As my flock has grown in size and number, so have the number and size of waterers I have tried. The smaller, 1 gallon waterers require filling twice each day, which is not convenient. Not only is more work to keep many, smaller waterers full but it is much more work cleaning each one regularly. My current goal is to reduce the number of waterers, trips to the hose and minutes spent cleaning each week.

For Egg Production

An egg consists of approximately 75% water and without access to a regular, clean supply of water, a hen will be physically unable to produce eggs.

With baby chicks, I find that raising the waterer up from the floor with a block of wood or cookie tin keeps the water cleaner longer. They will eventually learn to climb on top of the waterer and a large, upside-down funnel works to discourage that behavior.

Keeping water liquid during freezing temperatures is a major challenge that must be met as chickens’ feed consumption increases in the cold and they require water to digest it. I made several cookie tin water heaters, for less than $10 each, which work very well.

4-H Easy-Fill Drinker I snickered to myself when I opened the box and found instructions. Seriously? Who needs instructions to use a waterer?  Suffice it to say that between my husband and I, with two college degrees and a law degree between us, we were unable to figure out how to make the water stay in the unit. Much like some people who loathe the idea of stopping the car to ask for directions, I was not fond of the idea of calling to ask someone how to use this product, but it had to be done.

Bob, a product manager with the manufacturer, Harris Farms, is a good and patient man, who spent a solid 45 minutes trying to explain it to me, part by part. I admit now that it is not a complicated system, but the assembly instructions could be made clearer. I told Bob to explain it to me like I was a five year old and the following is a visual representation of our conversation.

The float stop controls the flow of water into the base and is the linchpin of the entire operation. Ours was not in the correct location and was never going to work properly unless it was in the proper position. Now that it is, this waterer is a dream. Since it will serve up to 75 chickens, I now have an excuse to get more chickens. I like to think of it at The Big Gulp®, for poultry. :)

The parts. There is also an O-ring on the top thread of the bolt, which is hard to see here. The float stop is the key to the waterer’s operation. The plug simply allows the bucket of water to be filled without running into the base while the waterer is carried to the desired location.

Bottom view of the of the white, water bucket. This piece meets the green base and float. The float stop MUST be in the female end of the plug holder to operate correctly.

View of bottom of waterer base. The nut is inserted through the bottom of the white water bucket and the bucket is held in place against the float and green base. The nut is then threaded onto the bolt.

View of the bottom of the white water bucket with the nut & bolt secured and the water plug covering the male end of the plug holder.View looking down into the white water bucket. The plug is removed during operation to allow water to flow through to the float stop.

The lid of the waterer has notches that fit into the white water base, which prevents the lid from blowing off in high winds.