meezers Posted July 7, 2012 Share Posted July 7, 2012 I have 3 chicks( with mother hen ) who will be 5 weeks old when we go away for a fortnight. My lovely neighbour will be looking after the chooks as usual, but I always make it as easy as possible for her- I have 2 30 litre tripod drinkers that each last 2+ weeks when full, so all my neighbour has to do is top up the food, chuck in some treats and collect eggs. At the moment Muppet and chicks are using a plastic fountain drinker and it gets on my nerves. Though it holds plenty of water, the 'moat' is getting clogged with debris and needs cleaning on a daily basis, not something I'd expect my neighbour to do- and it's a fiddle to refill as well, I wouldn't relax if she had to refill it while we were away. I was thinking if I were to provide them with a step ( their bantam 'mum' needs one anyway) do you think 5 week old chicks would be ok with one of the tripod drinkers? Would you be worried about them taking an impromptu dip? I thought I could put a cylinder of wire mesh either vertically around the central/deepest part or lay it just under the water surface so they couldn't fall in? What do you think? This is the drinker I have. http://www.regencypoultry.com/drinkers/PlasticDrinkers/plastic_leg_drinker.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kittyl Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 If it was me I'd probably trial run it for a few days while I was there to watch them. If they jumped up & perched on the edge & slipped in, is it deep enough that they could be trapped? (thinking of the sloping sides) If so the wire would be a good idea, or pebbles/marbles maybe. I think personally I'd still want to have the water changed after a week so no green bits formed in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
