Steve. Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Hi Folks, Some help required here I think ... As some of you may know I have a Cube + with standard run + extension and eight chooks. Five from Omlet, and three others that were added very recently. I have two Grubs, and one Super Glug. I am worried that just one Super Glug is not enough, over the weekend Egg production has dropper to 3 to 4 a day out of 7 layers (one is POL). Putting a Mushroom-type drinker in yesterday aftenoon as it was hot, they drank all 2 litres in a couple of hours. I guess they were thirsty. Should I buy a second Super Glug? Or is there an alternate waterer that can be refilled from outside of the run. Filling the Mushroom drinker is a pain as it involves opening the cube run and then releasing the pendulum of death when I release it into the Cube. Looking forward to some more of the great help that I've got so far for you lot! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Hi steve. I've had 2 superglugs from the start Also tried a more traditional drinker in the mini heat wave, but they continually kicked mud and bedding into it maybe you should just get another superglug and be done with it, plus mine drink from the top and bottom at the same time!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 maybe you should just get another superglug and be done with it, plus mine drink from the top and bottom at the same time!!! I'd need Giraffe chickens to do that ... my SuperGlug is quite high up! Maybe another drinker is the answer though running out of space to put stuff and don't fancy another extension as this'd eat into the Walk-In-Run fund. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian47 Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Hi Steve, Just a quick thought mate. I was wondering whether adding an easier to use drinker might make them lazy and drink from this first rather than the glug, like you I had to train mine to drink from the glug by "tickleing the nipples with a stick". Thankfully they soon cottoned on and all five are using it ok. Regards Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 Hi Steve, Just a quick thought mate. I was wondering whether adding an easier to use drinker might make them lazy and drink from this first rather than the glug, like you I had to train mine to drink from the glug by "tickleing the nipples with a stick". Thankfully they soon cottoned on and all five are using it ok. Regards Ian Yes - they don't touch the SuperGlug if the Mushroom feeder is in there --- I'm not really sure what's going on. Does anyone know how much water 8 chickens should drink per day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 How much they drink depends on the weather and what they've been eating. The general guide or rule of thumb is 1 waterer per four birds. Mine drink from bunny bottles - the big 1 litre ones. That way they can't get the water dirty and I can refill it from outside the run. They also have a bowl of water in the garden that they sometimes drink from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Watch Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 Steve, I don't have a cube or a superglug at all. But I do a standard "glug" that comes with the eglu. It only holds 4 pints (compared to the 10 pints held in a superglug). But it has no teats, they just drink out of the top. My 4 chooks can drink half a glug in one day, so I guess they must get through half a pint each. They are good. But I guess your chooks might end up preferring it to drinking out of the teats???? I actually have 2 glugs and I use the 2nd one when I'm on holiday so they never run out of water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinkychick Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 i cant answer your question but i have 4 chooks, they have a normal glug and a small upside down mushroom thingy, they dont drink that much, maybe a third of both, and a bit out of a bucket in the garden!....should i be worried? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 I have 10 chooks, 2 superglugs and 1 normal glug. They always empty the normal glug first! Then they move onto the superglug that has an upturned pot next to it so they can drink out of the top But I know they are perfectly capable of using the superglug nipples. I think they just prefer to dip their beaks And yes, they do drink a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted October 13, 2008 Share Posted October 13, 2008 When I got my cube, I asked for 2 glugs instead of a grub and a super glug. I use the glugs for feed and bunny bottles for water. In the summer they can empty two one litre bunny bottles in a day, but then I have 12 little banties. So long as they have access to adequate clean water they will be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janty Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 I have 19 chickens with four superglugs and three glugs. I know that is too many but they are happy. They also have 9 grubs, two hanging feeders and an Eltex trough for their wet layers mash porridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 Thank you all ... so the conclusion is that we are a little 'light' in the Water department. We'll watch carefully over the next few days, see if we can work out who is not laying. Food is no problem ... I top the two Grubs up every few days long gone are the chances of one grub lasting a week. Now if the Grub could be filled up easily from outside the Run I'd be really happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinkychick Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 When I got my cube, I asked for 2 glugs instead of a grub and a super glug. I use the glugs for feed and bunny bottles for water. In the summer they can empty two one litre bunny bottles in a day, but then I have 12 little banties. So long as they have access to adequate clean water they will be fine. Cool! can normal sized chickens drink from bunny bottles? It may stop mine flicking food/mud/etc into their glug What a great idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Yup, just grab the dominant/smartest chook and 'peck' her beak onto the nozzle of the water bottle until she gets the idea, the others will learn from watching her. Took a day for all mine to start using them. Lovely clean water that you can top up from outside the run, I am careful to leave a pan of water out in the garden in really hot weather though, just to be sure that they get all they need. The oldsters have just taught the newbies to use the bottles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinkychick Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 Thanks! ill get one asap and let you know how they get on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovychook Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 I'm in a bit of a quandary about this too... We have 6 chooks and 1 superglug. We've managed to train 5 of them to use the superglug since they arrived 2 weeks ago. The 4 bigger girls took to it almost straight away, followed by Hilda the araucana about a week later. Phyllis, however, the smallest of the bunch, hasn't got a clue, so we're still putting a dog bowl of water in there every day to make sure that she can have a drink. The other chooks, although still using the superglug, seem to prefer drinking out of the bowl ! I'm thinking that we should get another waterer & feeder and have toyed with the idea of getting a normal glug for Phyllis but I'm sure that the others would just use that instead ... Sorry to hijack the thread but any advice would be gratefully received! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve. Posted October 15, 2008 Author Share Posted October 15, 2008 Remove the dog bowl ... she'll pick it up eventually. Obviously keep an eye on her - when she's desperate for a drink she'll twig where the water is. Probably! Our chooks understood quite quickly - though prefer water from elsewhere if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jools+6 Posted October 15, 2008 Share Posted October 15, 2008 our girls have a small water bell feeder thingy in the run , an eight litre bell thing on the patio too . they drink from .. puddles and the dogs outside water bowl the dog by the way loves to drink from the eight litre gig on the patio - with the rabbit so as long as water is present dont worry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyhole kate Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I have my super glug placed on the run near the bottom of the cube stairs. some of the girls use the nipples others stand on a rung and drink from the top I have seen them all use both methods though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groovychook Posted October 16, 2008 Share Posted October 16, 2008 I have my super glug placed on the run near thebottom of the cube stairs. some of the girls use the nipples others stand on a rung and drink from the top I have seen them all use both methods though What a brilliant idea!! I shall give that a whirl!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
