Spent $40 on a fancy heated chicken waterer and my hens refused to touch it

Picked up a nice heated waterer from Tractor Supply last month because I was tired of breaking ice every morning. Turns out my girls are picky and wouldn't drink from it, so I had to go back to their old bucket and a small aquarium heater. What weird stuff have your chickens turned their beaks up at?

2 comments

2 Comments

alex_coleman23d ago

Used to think chickens would drink anything as long as it wasn't frozen, but my birds proved me dead wrong with a fancy ceramic waterer that cost twice what yours did. They stared at it like it was a decoy and waited me out until I caved and threw a cheap stock tank heater in their old setup. Now I just let them tell me what works and save the experiments for things that actually matter, like scratch grain flavors.

elliotc1022d ago

Right, isn't that just the way with chickens? I had almost the same thing happen with a nice heated base I picked up. My girls took one look at that fancy heated thing and refused to go near it for three days, just stood there eyeballing their old frozen bucket like it was a betrayal. Finally gave in and threw them the same old rubber pan with a basic tank heater, and they acted like I'd found them a spring-fed pond. Now I just figure if they want to drink from a muddy puddle in a dented dish pan, that's their call. Save the money for the cracked corn with the extra sunflower seeds, that's where you see the real enthusiasm.