Food and Water
Chickens need access to food and water 24/7 if possible. The food needs to be cycled enough so that it does not develop mold or mildew, and the water needs to be kept clean and free from contaminants, especially their droppings. The best feeders I have found are the ones that are open on top so that you can easily fill them. Keep in mind that chickens will sit on anything they can get on top of. So hang it if possible to keep it off the ground, and to discourage roosting on it. Same for the water. I like 2 types of watering systems for my chickens. One is water nipples that do not allow any contaminants to get into the water supply. The other which is easier and more practical, is sealed containers with a tray on the bottom where the water can be accessed. Since the water mainly flows out from the top, the bulk of the water stays clean, even if some contaminants get in the water tray.
The downside to the nipple system is that they all drip or leak to some extent from time to time. Also, if a nipple gets stuck, it can drain the whole water supply before you notice it. For this reason, in my chicken run, the nipple system is outside with a large rain barrel to feed it. It is a secondary watering system that keeps me from having to refill and clean their main watering containers as often. I have it hooked up to a large rain barrel that is fed from a gutter downspout with debris guards to keep anything other than water from entering the rain barrel. I treat it periodically with a little chlorine to kill anything living in the barrel, and to keep algae from forming. It’s a dark barrel that doesn’t let light in, and the piping is PVC, so algae isn’t as big of an issue as other living organisms.
For baby chicks/getting started:
Chick Feeder and Waterer Set is great for getting the little chicks to the point where they can handle a larger feeder and waterer system. If you want to take it one step further, I really like to get my feeder and waterer off the ground so it doesn’t get shavings in it all the time (especially the water). In that case, I recommend the Hanging 1L Chick Feeder and Waterer Combo kit here. Since I always start my baby chicks off in a big plastic tote inside where I can keep an eye on them, I will place a 4′ long dowel rod over the top, and hang the feeder and waterer from that.
If you have a lot of baby chicks (more than 15), you may want to step up to the 3 gallon Little Giant Plastic Poultry Waterer. Keep in mind, baby chicks will poop EVERYWHERE, so you will likely need to clean their waterer daily at first. For this reason, I suggest starting with the 1L system above (or 2 so you can have one ready to go when the other gets dirty) so you can wash their feeder and waterer as needed, without wasting water or food.
Keep in mind, it is possible for baby chicks to drown in their water, so especially with the larger waterers you may want to add marbles, or rocks to the water tray initially to allow them access to the water without being able to fully submerge their heads.
Grown Chickens
Once your chickens are older, I strongly advise you move up to the larger feeders and waterers, depending on how many chickens you have.
For 10 chickens or less, or if space is a limitation, I recommend the Top Fill Hanging Automatic Poultry Fountain Waterer, 5 Gallon Capacity & Poultry Feeder with Customizable Flow Rates, 17 Pound Capacity as a great starting point.
If you will have more than 10 chickens, have larger chickens, or if you just have the space, I recommend you move up to the larger feeders and waterers so you don’t have to refill them as often, or worry about it if you miss a day or take a trip. I use the Hanging Poultry Feeder 25lb Capacity – Heavy-Duty Galvanized Steel Gravity Feeder, Adjustable Feed Flow with at least 1 of the Farm-Tuff 5 gal. Top Fill Poultry and Game Bird Waterer. I currently use 2 of these waterers so I don’t have to refill as often, so I don’t have to worry about them going thirsty on really hot days, or if one of them leaks out (which can happen if you don’t close it properly after filling it, or have a seal go bad). I like the capacity of them, especially the waterer and the way it works. I have used other water systems that were bottom-fill where you would take the top tank off, turn it upside down, fill it with water, and then twist the bottom on before turning it right side up again. After a while, all the ones I had using this design started to leak out because the do not have any gasket, only friction to hold a seal, so I gave up on that design. That’s when I found the top fill Farm-Tuff 5 gal. Top Fill Poultry and Game Bird Waterer, and I never looked back. They work great, and if you use a little food grade silicon on the gaskets every once in a while, they last forever. If a seal does wear out or get damaged, they sell replacements. When using this waterer I also add a teaspoon of choline to each 5 gallon refill to kill any waterborne pathogens or diseases even though I fill them with tap water.
Keep in mind that if you are hanging them (which I recommend) the 5 gallon waterer, when filled, will weigh around 42 lbs. If you cannot lift that much weight easily, you have several options. First, you could buy the 5 gallon container, and only fill it with as much as you can comfortably carry and lift. That way you have the extra capacity if you need it later. Or, you could simply buy the 3 gallon Little Giant Plastic Poultry Waterer, which will take up less room vertically for hanging, and when full would weigh around 24 lbs. Another option is to fill the waterer in place using smaller containers that you can carry. The Farm-Tuff waterers fill from the top. They have a small white cap that you move between the top keeper spot, ad the outlet at the bottom where the water fills the water tray before you open the top and release the vacuum. Once the small white cap is in place, you unscrew the large black top filler cover, and fill the tank. Once it is filled and you have replaced the large filler cap on top to make a vacuum, you simply move the white cap to the top side of the waterer and screw it onto the “keeper spot” so it doesn’t get lost. Water will come out at the bottom, only until the water tray is filled, and then the vacuum in the tank will make it stop until the water level falls again allowing some air into the tank. The keeper spot is shaped exactly the same as the water outlet, except it is sealed on the front. It is a great feature to make sure you don’t lose the cap between fills.
You can keep the waterers on the ground, hopefully slightly off the ground on a cinder block or something else, but I don’t prefer this method. First of all, plastic and UV light don’t go together well. Over time, it will get brittle and wear out. Plus, chickens WILL try to get on top of it, and once they poop, there is poop on or in your waterer. I always hang my waterers by using some paracord to make a loop, then I use a lark’s head around the handle, and hang it on a screw-in hook on the roof rafter.
They were not designed to be hung, but that is what works best for me. I have been doing it for years, and none have broken so far. The feeders all have a metal handle (seen in background above) that is made for carrying or hanging, so they are a bit easier to hang in this way. When I hang my Farm-tuff waterers, I do it this way so that the the stress points are at the sides of the handle, not in the middle. This helps distribute the weight so it doesn’t bend or break the handle, and it makes it easier to get the waterer to hang level, which is critical in this type of system. If the waterer is leaning too far in any direction, it can allow the water to flow over the edge of the tray, and leak out even when not in use. If using this method, ensure that the rope going across on the bottom is in FRONT of the part of the rope going up to the hook or screw. This way if it should slip, it is still a lark’s head knot and will hold it. If it is behind the one going up, and it slips, it will fall. Also keep in mind, that whatever you use to hold it, must be able to support close to 50 lbs and not bend. I have an exterior grade screw in the picture above, and I sank it deep enough that the threads will not hit the rope and make it fray, and so the bulk of the screw is in wood, with as little sticking out as possible. Looking back, a small lag screw would probably have worked better, but so far this has held up just fine.
Water Nipples
Chicken Waterer, Nipple+Tee – T-connectors for 1/2 PVC pipe, with nipples. Much faster, and easier than having to drill the pipe and them try to thread a nipple into it. These are already threaded, which will make it MUCH easier if you ever have to replace one of the nipples.
For more information, see my other articles. For product suggestions, see Products I Use or Recommend.