Topic: A chicken question

[SueSteve]

We are planning to get an eglu cube and 4 chickens in around a months time, so I am just trying to do a bit of reseach.
Apparently you can connect the water up to the drinking contianer and it fills itself automativally.
Does anyone know how this works?
Do chickens drink rainwater??? As I am wondering if it could be connected to a water butt.
Any other chicken info welcomed!!
Thanks,
Sue

[Rosyred]

Hello Yes chickens would drink rain water but I don't think connecting to a water butt would be a good idea incase it isn't clean and could lead to infection but someone else may say its ok.

Good luck with the chickens they are such fun.

[SueSteve]

Thaks for the reply rosyred.
I am trying to source some organic feed, the stuff from omlet is £10, thats fine, but the postage is £7!! And that is not fine!!

[DadnDom]

My chickens prefer rain water to tap water  ??? Thety would rather drink from a rain filled bucket than their fresh drinking water...

[kt.]

My chickens only get rain water. I do change the water regurlarly though, and they have 4 drinking containers positioned at different points around the chicken run.

[Paulines7]

We are planning to get an eglu cube and 4 chickens in around a months time, so I am just trying to do a bit of reseach.
Apparently you can connect the water up to the drinking contianer and it fills itself automativally.
Does anyone know how this works?
Thanks,
Sue

You can buy a ballcock similar to the ones that are in WC's.  I bought two, a torpedo shaped one that we bought in France 3 years ago for about 6 Euros and a smaller one similar to those used in Aquarolls of caravanners which cost £13 at a plumbers' merchants.  However, the small one packed up after 2 weeks and the torpedo one is still working.  The ballcock is screwed into a plastic garden trough and fed by a hose from an outside tap.  I think I may have had the water pressure too high for the smaller one.   I clean the trough out with a washing up brush regularly but have left it for just over two weeks when on holiday.

I will post a picture tomorrow.  By the way, I keep the brush in the henhouse and don't use it indoors for washing up!!    ;D ;D

[OliveOil]

Go to your agricultural feed merchant or horse feed place you will get organic feed there - Allen and Page do organic and its around £6 or less a bag.

[Paulines7]

Here is a picture of the water trough as promised.

[istanley24]

Hiya,

I just wanted to point out that organic feed is not always the best option.  The Allen and page company run both the smallholder range and organic feed company.  The Smallholders is not organic, but does not use any GM products, and none of its ingredients have been treated by a chemical that extracts oils (like corn oil etc  -  can't think of the name of the chemical), but the organic feed does use this chemical.  The ingredients are grown organically, but then this chemical is used on them.

As far as I'm aware the smallholder feed does not use any by-products, and for me, that is the better option.  I too wanted to go organic, but am happy with this feed.

Ian.

[Toni]

I think the chemical you are referring to is called Hexane, istanley24.
I agree with this, if it was a choice of GM, petrol free or "organic with petrol included" I would choose the Hexane free every time!

However, this is just one of the feed companies out there, so do look around. But be aware that feed goes off.

(I have just PM'd you)  :D

[istanley24]

thanks for that toni, nice of you to fill in the facts for me! lol.

 :)

[OliveOil]

I think you will find that the Smallholder Range is just a range of Allen and Page Feeds which is the exact same product I mentioned earlier... hope that clarifies

Also just another thought - 4 chickens in an omlet sized run - are you building a bigger run?

[istanley24]

Allen and Page do make both the smallholders feed and organic feed, but the organic feed has traces of Hexane (that is used on the ingredients, not in the growing of them, so they can still call it organic).  The smallholders feed does not have any trace of hexane in it.

Organic is not always as it would seem.

[SueSteve]

Also just another thought - 4 chickens in an omlet sized run - are you building a bigger run?

The cube is larger than the eglu, it holds up to 10 hens.

thanks for all the info.
Sue