What size feeder and water needed for 10x chicks?

[Captain Andrews]

I have ten 5-week old barred rock chicks. My feeder a tin, 14"'ish long style with 7 feed windows on each side of the slide-off top. Every time I fill up the feeder, all the chicks flock to it. I refill it once a day, sometimes twice, much like their waterer.

In your experience, is this big enough for 10 chicks at 5 weeks? the waterer is a 1.5 liter (almost a half-gallon), I am also curious about that.

Their new coop is in-progress and I am hoping to finish it within a week or so. The run will follow.
Thank you in advance.

- CA

 

[EddieSalita]

It's a bit on the small side. That's only 150mls per day. If you fill it religiously each day. Chooks are fun, but you don't want to be a slave to their needs. If you have to go out for the whole day or overnight.... they are gonna be short of water.
Chickens drink a lot. Especially in summer. I'd upgrade to a drinker big enough for them as adults. Just put it at the baby chick height. I like to allow 500ml per bird per day. Which means at least 5 litres. Though 10 litres (10kg approx) is handleable by most people and older kids... would be better for 10 birds once they grow.
Though they won't likely drink that much in a day. It's good to have it should they need it. Also it means you don't have to fill it each and every day. Just check it.
If you want to try nipples etc in the future, or have to separate a bird.....you will always have a reliable old school drinker as a backup. It will never be wasted to have a second drinker.

 

[Captain Andrews]

It's a bit on the small side. That's only 150mls per day. If you fill it religiously each day. Chooks are fun, but you don't want to be a slave to their needs. If you have to go out for the whole day or overnight.... they are gonna be short of water.
Chickens drink a lot. Especially in summer. I'd upgrade to a drinker big enough for them as adults. Just put it at the baby chick height. I like to allow 500ml per bird per day. Which means at least 5 litres. Though 10 litres (10kg approx) is handleable by most people and older kids... would be better for 10 birds once they grow.
Though they won't likely drink that much in a day. It's good to have it should they need it. Also it means you don't have to fill it each and every day. Just check it.
If you want to try nipples etc in the future, or have to separate a bird.....you will always have a reliable old school drinker as a backup. It will never be wasted to have a second drinker.

Thank you. I should have mentioned I plan to build a DIY PVC system for the food and water in the run once done but it doesn't affect the need for a bigger one now. Thanks for your wisdom.

 

[DLA]

Those small starter feeders/waterers are fine for a few weeks but chicks quickly outgrow them. I transitioned mine about that age right to the tub initially, then when they were tall enough to reach the ports used feeding ports that can be attached to a bucket or a plastic cat litter bucket works fantastic also - i have 2 of those with 4 ports each for my 9 chickens, make sure you get the ones with the covers so you can cover the ports at night to keep rodents out. The waterer is a 3 gallon one and I have to fill it every few days. I also have a heater that works under the plastic waterer but from where you live I doubt you'd need that.

 

[Captain Andrews]

Those small starter feeders/waterers are fine for a few weeks but chicks quickly outgrow them. I transitioned mine about that age right to the tub initially, then when they were tall enough to reach the ports used feeding ports that can be attached to a bucket or a plastic cat litter bucket works fantastic also - i have 2 of those with 4 ports each for my 9 chickens, make sure you get the ones with the covers so you can cover the ports at night to keep rodents out. The waterer is a 3 gallon one and I have to fill it every few days. I also have a heater that works under the plastic waterer but from where you live I doubt you'd need that.


View attachment 3523631View attachment 3523632View attachment 3523630

I had hoped to leave a Flip N Slide mouse trap out near the coop to keep the mice at bay or better.
I lent one to my brother in law when cleaning out their rental from hoarders and got to watch an epic video of him dumping a bucket worth of dead mice it had caught.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. I didn't realize some of the feed port attachments for buckets were closable. Neat. Good to know. Thank you.

 

[EddieSalita]

Those small starter feeders/waterers are fine for a few weeks but chicks quickly outgrow them. I transitioned mine about that age right to the tub initially, then when they were tall enough to reach the ports used feeding ports that can be attached to a bucket or a plastic cat litter bucket works fantastic also - i have 2 of those with 4 ports each for my 9 chickens, make sure you get the ones with the covers so you can cover the ports at night to keep rodents out. The waterer is a 3 gallon one and I have to fill it every few days. I also have a heater that works under the plastic waterer but from where you live I doubt you'd need that.


View attachment 3523631View attachment 3523632View attachment 3523630

How do you find that style of drinker? does it get algae?

 

[DLA]

I had hoped to leave a Flip N Slide mouse trap out near the coop to keep the mice at bay or better.
I lent one to my brother in law when cleaning out their rental from hoarders and got to watch an epic video of him dumping a bucket worth of dead mice it had caught.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. I didn't realize some of the feed port attachments for buckets were closable. Neat. Good to know. Thank you.

How do you find that style of drinker? does it get algae?

@EddieSalita - tractor supply or amazon. Doesn't get algae, I separate the tank from the base (the type i have is from the same maker but not quite the same shape, i can separate the two parts, i'm not sure if they are all made that way) and wash it inside and out about once a week and put a little bit of apple cider vinegar in the water when I fill it.

 

[EddieSalita]

@EddieSalita - tractor supply or amazon. Doesn't get algae, I separate the tank from the base (the type i have is from the same maker but not quite the same shape, i can separate the two parts, i'm not sure if they are all made that way) and wash it inside and out about once a week and put a little bit of apple cider vinegar in the water when I fill it.

It looks very similar to the one I've had my eye on. I've always used stainless steel ones. I need another so thought it might be OK.

Thanks for the review.

 

[Mouthpear]

I have ten 5-week old barred rock chicks. My feeder a tin, 14"'ish long style with 7 feed windows on each side of the slide-off top. Every time I fill up the feeder, all the chicks flock to it. I refill it once a day, sometimes twice, much like their waterer.

In your experience, is this big enough for 10 chicks at 5 weeks? the waterer is a 1.5 liter (almost a half-gallon), I am also curious about that.

Their new coop is in-progress and I am hoping to finish it within a week or so. The run will follow.
Thank you in advance.

- CA

Hey bud.?!

You can always make a self filling water feeder.
It is in my Google Drive. You should have access I think. If not send the request.

Is self filling and has sight level. Adjustable to accommodate their height. Expandable.

You can see it in use top left corner. Had the vertical nippels back then.

 

[Iluveggers]

Those small starter feeders/waterers are fine for a few weeks but chicks quickly outgrow them. I transitioned mine about that age right to the tub initially, then when they were tall enough to reach the ports used feeding ports that can be attached to a bucket or a plastic cat litter bucket works fantastic also - i have 2 of those with 4 ports each for my 9 chickens, make sure you get the ones with the covers so you can cover the ports at night to keep rodents out. The waterer is a 3 gallon one and I have to fill it every few days. I also have a heater that works under the plastic waterer but from where you live I doubt you'd need that.


View attachment 3523631View attachment 3523632View attachment 3523630

What heater do you have under your waterer? I have a heated waterer that holds almost 3 gallon, but we doubled the size of our flock this year so if I can figure out a second heated waterer for the group, that would be mighty helpful. If not, I’ll fill daily as needed.