I have seen so many posts on here from frustrated chick newbies - such as myself, with questions about how to keep their chicks from kicking up shavings into their waterer. And we all know, as they grow, they don’t get any cleaner. When my chicks were about 3 weeks old I had one day where I had cleaned their waterer out about 3 times within an hour. I thought their has to be something I can do about this - and their was and it’s SO simple!
While I can not take the original credit for this idea (I owe that to YouTubers Guildbrook Farms and their video “Chicken Starter Guide”), this fix worked so well for me I just needed to spread the word!
Ok so let’s get in to this simple idea and stop the frustration and keep those chicks from messing their water!
What you will need:
-large kitchen container
-square of hardware cloth
-4 strips of wood
-some screws
-duct tape
-waterer
Now since mine is already assembled and has been used, I apologize I don’t have complete step by step photo instructions, but I think you’ll get the idea.
Once you’ve decided on which kitchen container to donate to the cause (cause let’s be honest, it’s a donation, you definitely don’t want that back in your kitchen!) cut your hardware cloth large enough to just drape over the edges of each side, but just run along the short edges.
Then take 2 of your strips of wood, clamp them around the end of the HWC and screw together. The weight of this will help keep it in place on top of the container.
Hopefully I don’t need to remind you to make sure your screws don’t protrude out of the wood, we don’t need any injured chicks, safety first!
Once you have each side of the hardware cloth clamped with wood, run some duct tape along the other ends so now sharp part of the HWC is exposed. Again, no injured chicks, safety first!
That is pretty much it! Your chickies can now access their water but this way, it’s elevated and any (or MOST) of the shavings, and POOP, that follow them up will go down through the HWC into the container.
As you can see I also made mine a little ramp to access it, but they were big enough by the time I provided this that they just hopped on and off so I removed the ramp, but it would be great for littles.
Guildbrook Farms also recommended using 2 containers so you can easily rotate them while one is being cleaned. While I did do this at first, I found I was washing everything often enough I just put it back as soon as it was cleaned.
I think I also used a piece of tile to set on top of the hardware cloth to place the waterer on top of, but you certainly don’t need to do this. Although I did find it helped with stability.
I really hope this helps someone else the way it helped me. It really is a simple easy fix to a problem we all have dealt with. The chicks also really enjoyed roosting on the edge of the wood - and on top of the waterer. Happy chickening!
While I can not take the original credit for this idea (I owe that to YouTubers Guildbrook Farms and their video “Chicken Starter Guide”), this fix worked so well for me I just needed to spread the word!
Ok so let’s get in to this simple idea and stop the frustration and keep those chicks from messing their water!
What you will need:
-large kitchen container
-square of hardware cloth
-4 strips of wood
-some screws
-duct tape
-waterer
Now since mine is already assembled and has been used, I apologize I don’t have complete step by step photo instructions, but I think you’ll get the idea.
Once you’ve decided on which kitchen container to donate to the cause (cause let’s be honest, it’s a donation, you definitely don’t want that back in your kitchen!) cut your hardware cloth large enough to just drape over the edges of each side, but just run along the short edges.
Then take 2 of your strips of wood, clamp them around the end of the HWC and screw together. The weight of this will help keep it in place on top of the container.
Hopefully I don’t need to remind you to make sure your screws don’t protrude out of the wood, we don’t need any injured chicks, safety first!
Once you have each side of the hardware cloth clamped with wood, run some duct tape along the other ends so now sharp part of the HWC is exposed. Again, no injured chicks, safety first!
That is pretty much it! Your chickies can now access their water but this way, it’s elevated and any (or MOST) of the shavings, and POOP, that follow them up will go down through the HWC into the container.
As you can see I also made mine a little ramp to access it, but they were big enough by the time I provided this that they just hopped on and off so I removed the ramp, but it would be great for littles.
Guildbrook Farms also recommended using 2 containers so you can easily rotate them while one is being cleaned. While I did do this at first, I found I was washing everything often enough I just put it back as soon as it was cleaned.
I think I also used a piece of tile to set on top of the hardware cloth to place the waterer on top of, but you certainly don’t need to do this. Although I did find it helped with stability.
I really hope this helps someone else the way it helped me. It really is a simple easy fix to a problem we all have dealt with. The chicks also really enjoyed roosting on the edge of the wood - and on top of the waterer. Happy chickening!
