Dirt in water

creedatticus · Sunday at 6:59 PM

we have a waterer that fills the little cups with water, and our chickens keep getting dirt in it! how did they do it and how do we stop it? did they bring dirt in or on their beak and get it in the water? did they somehow kick it into the water? i’m not sure how it happened or how to stop it, and it’s a pretty substantial amount on dirt the get in.

rosemarythyme · Sunday at 7:17 PM

My guess is that's a combination of dirt on their beak plus dust getting kicked up in the area. Not sure if there's really a solution, I don't use this style of waterer. The dirt doesn't really bother them though.

RojoMarz · Sunday at 10:23 PM

Don't forget the wind...I don't use the cup system, but I do wash our waterer daily, due to the wind blown dirt in the waterer. How long does it take for the cups to get that dirty?

raingarden · Monday at 12:17 AM

Use a turkey baster to suck the water and dirt out without having to turn the cup over.

ChickensComeHome2Roost · Monday at 2:11 AM

creedatticus said:
we have a waterer that fills the little cups with water, and our chickens keep getting dirt in it! how did they do it and how do we stop it? did they bring dirt in or on their beak and get it in the water? did they somehow kick it into the water? i’m not sure how it happened or how to stop it, and it’s a pretty substantial amount on dirt the get in.

I tried using the cups but they stayed dirty .

Jeri B · Monday at 2:35 AM

My chickens were constantly kicking dirt and straw and what have you into their water bowl until I raised it up. You could put your waterer on a platform of some type.

gtaus · Monday at 2:36 AM

How high off the ground is your drinking cup? Maybe it's just too low and even an inch or two higher would help. A little dirt will not hurt the chickens, but I check out my waterer at least daily and clean it out as needed.

My waterer is inside my chicken coop. I see your drinking cup appears to be outside. Depending on where you live, it might be air born dust and dirt that is falling on the water.

Interesting idea of the turkey baster to suck out the water. I might suggest taking a small glass of water or water bottle with you and just flushing out the cup. You don't really care if the overflow dumps on the ground.

raingarden · Monday at 2:49 AM

gtaus said:
You don't really care if the overflow dumps on the ground.

.... except the water will allow fly larvae to grow and hatch.

gtaus · Monday at 3:11 AM

raingarden said:
.... except the water will allow fly larvae to grow and hatch.

I think any overflow water on the ground would be soaked into the soil and not a problem. I think fly larvae need standing, stagnant, water to grow and hatch.

raingarden · Monday at 4:30 AM

gtaus said:
I think any overflow water on the ground would be soaked into the soil and not a problem. I think fly larvae need standing, stagnant, water to grow and hatch.

Not to be argumentative, but house fly maggots just need moist chicken poop to develop. Mosquitoes need standing water to hatch.

Dirt in water

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