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    Home » Blog » Natural living

    Tips for keeping chicken water clean

    Categories: Natural living Author: Emily Date Updated: October 14, 2022

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    Pinterest graphic with two images showing a chicken near a poultry waterer and scrubbing the bowl of the poultry waterer with the title 'tips for keeping chicken water clean'

    Discover my top tips for keeping chicken water fresh and clean. In this blog I'm sharing how I keep our chickens waterer clean with clever design and as little as 30 minutes of hands-on time a week.

    A chicken taking a drink of clean water

    Keeping backyard chickens happy and health is pretty easy, as long as you provide a safe, predator-free environment, fresh water and nutritious food.

    I think chickens are the best pets to keep because, well, EGGS!

    But chooks are great mess makers and will quickly scratch dirt, poop and bacteria into their waterer creating a slimy mess. Gross!

    Along with removing droppings and collecting the eggs, cleaning your chickens water source should be part of your regular chicken keeping routine.

    In this blog I am sharing my top tips for keeping the chicken water fresh and clean.

    Jump to:
    • My top tips for keeping chicken water clean
    • Invest in a purpose-designed poultry waterer
    • Hang or elevate the chicken waterer
    • Clean and refresh chicken water regularly
    • Consider adding apple cider vinegar
    • Top tip
    • FAQ
    A close up image of a chicken with the chicken water in the background

    My top tips for keeping chicken water clean

    My top tips for keeping your chicken water clean are:

    • invest in a purpose-designed poultry waterer
    • hang or elevate the waterer
    • clean and refresh the water regularly
    • consider adding apple cider vinegar.

    Now let's look at each of these steps in more detail.

    Invest in a purpose-designed poultry waterer

    Unlike a trough or dish, a purpose-designed poultry waterer holds fresh water inside a closed compartment away from potential contaminants like poop, dust, and debris. You can choose from a range of designs and materials such as plastic and stainless steel, bell shaped or drip feeder.

    For our humble flock of two chickens we opted for a 2 litre bell-shaped Bainbridge Stainless Steel Poultry Drinker which we picked up from our local stockfeed store. Stainless steel is a little more expensive than plastic but is designed to be tough enough to withstand the elements, so it's a worthwhile investment.

    I have used plastic waterers in the past and I have found stainless steel much easier to scrub clean.

    The 2 litre capacity lasts 2-3 days before needing to be refreshed.

    chickens in the chicken coop near the chicken water

    Hang or elevate the chicken waterer

    By hanging or otherwise elevating your waterer to chicken head hight, you will avoid unwanted nasties being accidentally scratched into the water while your chicks are parading around the coop.

    We've hung our waterer on a chain away from the chooks favourite dust bathing area, over the top straw. This helps keep the water fresh and clean, for a couple of days at least.

    You could also place the waterer on top of a couple of sturdy bricks to raise the height. Just make sure the chickens can still reach the water!

    It's also a good idea to keep the waterer out of direct sunlight, to keep the water cool and avoid the growth of algae.

    A close up image of the chicken water beer feeder stainless steel poultry drinker hanging on a chain elevated

    Clean and refresh chicken water regularly

    Once or twice a week, depending on the conditions (warmer weather will result in water becoming green more quickly) thoroughly scrub out the waterer and refresh the water. The whole process only takes about 15 minutes.

    Using a coconut fibre brush to scrub the bowl of the stainless steel poultry drinker

    If the waterer is particularly dirty, you can use vinegar to help disinfect it.

    I like to use a coconut fibre scrubber to clean my waterer, which I leave hanging on on my tap near the chicken coop for convenience.

    A coconut fibre brush used for keeping the chicken water clean hanging by the tap

    After thoroughly cleaning, refill the drinker with fresh water.

    Filling the stainless steel chicken waterer with fresh clean water

    Consider adding apple cider vinegar

    By adding a small amount of apple cider vinegar (ACV), you can reduce the amount of bacteria and algae that grows in your chicken's water. It must be natural ACV 'with the mother'.

    It also has the added benefit of being a natural health tonic for chooks. The optimal ratio is 2%, so that's 20 millilitres of ACV per litre of water (4 US teaspoons to 1 US quart).

    Note: Only use diluted ACV in a plastic or ceramic waterer to avoid corrosion. It is not clear if stainless steel is affected by the mild acidity of diluted ACV, so this is not something we do with our waterer set up.

    Top tip

    Keep a back up dish of water in another location incase something happens to the main water source while you're out.

    A chicken taking a drink of water from a water bowl

    Want to know more about keeping backyard chickens? Check out my blog Tips for keeping chickens out of the garden.

    Thanks for following along!

    FAQ

    How do you keep chickens water clean?

    I recommend investing in a purpose-designed poultry waterer, hanging or otherwise elevating the waterer, cleaning and refreshing the water regularly and consider adding small amount of diluted apple cider vinegar to the water.

    How to keep dirt out of chicken water

    By elevating the waterer, you can help minimise the amount of dirt that makes its way into the chicken water.

    What's the best way to keep chicken water clean?

    The best way to keep chicken water clean is to elevate the waterer away from dirt and debris, and refresh the water regularly.

    How to keep chicken water clean in brooder/how to keep baby chicks water clean

    It can be difficult to keep chicken water clean in a brooder environment. Young chicks are super messy and will scratch bedding and poop all over the water bowl if you let them. I recommend using a a purpose designed bell-shaped poultry drinker in a smaller size, and elevating this on a small block of wood or similar. Ensure the chicks can reach by gently dipping their beaks in the water.

    More Natural living

    • The best way to dry herbs from your garden
    • Tips for keeping chickens out of the garden
    • Five best annual flowers for cutting
    • How to make soy wax candles with essential oils

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    Hi, I'm Emily. I help families embrace simple living, reconnect with real food, and create a natural handmade home.

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