What is the Best Chicken Drinker? Is there a difference?
What is the Best Chicken Drinker? Is there a difference?
With so many options on the market, it is a sensible question to ask. What is the best chicken drinker? What should you be looking for? What is the difference between a poor quality chicken waterer and a good quality one?
For information on setting up a mains waterer system using Lubing Cups, take a look at our Automatic Chicken Waterers.
The Differences Between Chicken Drinkers
Like everything on the market nowadays, there is a big difference between good quality and poor quality.
Yes, they may look similar but looks can be deceiving. But unlike a cheap vs. expensive sandwich press, a chicken drinker is an essential part of the health and well-being of your entire flock.
The dollars you save buying a cheaper, similar-looking drinker could end up being a fatal mistake.
You see, it is not just about supplying chickens with water. A bowl on the ground can do that.
It’s about the quality of the water they end up drinking. This is where the design of your drinker is critical for the health of your birds.
Problem #1: Cheap Drinkers Are More Prone to Algae
Let’s start with the obvious one. Algae.
Many clear or translucent plastic drinkers allow UV light in, which encourages the growth of algae. Green algae growth in a water container ends up creating a bacteria cesspool.
Your hens will without question catch some form of disease in little to no time at all. Think of how quickly you catch a middle ear infection if you swim in a pool that is not chlorinated at the correct levels.
Now imagine having to drink it. Being small in size, chickens can develop algae poisoning from toxins that develop in their drinking water due to algae.
So, you need a chicken drinker that blocks UV light and inhibits algae growth.
Quote from Article on this topic from Poultry DVM
Chickens are poisoned through ingestion of contaminated water. Symptoms of poisoning vary depending on the type of toxin ingested. Neurotoxic cyanotoxins (associated with the nervous system) will result in muscle tremors, decreased movement, difficulty breathing, convulsions, or in many cases sudden collapse and death. Hepatotoxic cyanotoxins (associated with the liver) will cause weakness, bloody diarrhea, pale comb and wattles, mental derangement, and eventually death.
See more at: http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/blue-green-algae-poisoning
Problem #2: Ground-Level Chicken Drinkers
The next consideration is chicken drinkers positioned on the ground.
This could be a simple drinking trough style watering station or a popular choice that has a tray at the bottom and an upside-down water tank on top.
Yes, they provide water adequately. But most have a translucent plastic tank that allows algae to form. Also, this type of design allows chickens to put their feet on the tray.
Think about it for a minute. Chickens’ feet have walked through dirt, mud, and poop all day. Now that is offloaded into the very tray they are drinking from.
Depending on what ends up in the water tray, they could end up with Thrush caused by fungus contaminating the water. Botulism is also spread by decaying organic matter in the drinking water, along with many other diseases.
Putting all of this aside, if you are away and the chickens knock the drinker over, they will have no source to drink from. Hands down, both these types of drinkers, while cheap, are not worth considering for your backyard chickens to drink from.
So, it’s time to stop thinking about saving a few dollars and consider the many benefits Dine-A-Chook Chicken Drinkers have over all others on the market.
Drum Drinkers for Chickens
The average chicken can consume 500ml - 750ml per day.
So if you have 6 hens and want to go away for the weekend, our 20lt drum drinker offers you peace of mind.
Here’s where science comes in. We came up with something original. A dense black plastic drum that is UV proof. Unlike many other drum waterers on the market, our drum drinkers are made to prevent algae growth.
They use world-leading German Lubing Cups, which prevent dirt, mud, and poop from chicken feet. Also, our upgraded Australian-designed float is revolutionary. Instead of many floats in the cup which rely on the chickens to press down to get water from the drum, ours is designed to fill as the cup water level lowers automatically.
Your chickens get fresh, clean, uncontaminated water.
The Best Chicken Drinker
The Dine-A-Chook Chicken Drinker revolutionised the Australian backyard chicken coop.
With years of research and development behind the famous Dine-A-Chook Drinker, it remains the best in the market.
Dine-A-Chook has spread its wings into the New Zealand and UK markets.
Although copied by many, it is unbeaten. Over 50,000 customers globally can’t be wrong.
Why Dine-A-Chook Is the Best
- UV treated blockout, weatherproof PVC
- Won’t crack or split
- Prevents algae growth in water
- BPA-free so no toxins are released in the water
- Free of glues
- Generous 4lt capacity
- Strong rear moulded mounting hooks for easy installation in most chicken coops
- Choice of one or two Lubing Cups
- Lockable lid with convenient carry handle
- Prevents water spillage
- Automatic float design that fills the cup without needing chickens to press down
If you have a flock of 6 hens, our 4lt drinker will provide them with fresh, clean, uncontaminated water all day long. For larger flocks or if you’re going away, simply install a second or third drinker.
Browse and shop genuine Dine-A-Chook Chicken Waterers and Drinkers.
The other great tip we recommend when using our 4-litre drinkers is to keep some freezer blocks on hand.
They fit wonderfully into the chicken waterers and will keep the water cool for hours! When the water is cool, your birds will consume more and stay hydrated.
Mains Pressure Drinker – Never run out of water again
Our family has 10 chickens.
Due to our flock size, we use two Lubing Cups. Because of our busy lives and time management, we have our waterer connected to mains water. When we designed and engineered our mains pressure system, we considered the average backyard chicken keeper and put their needs first.
So we designed a system that could be installed without a plumber.
It can be installed in less than an hour and can be connected to a garden hose.
However, if you wish it to be plumbed to the mains, you can also do that with minimal fuss. A watering system that directly connects these poultry watering cups to mains pressure water saves us from having to constantly fill up.
Browse and shop our Automatic Mains Pressure Chicken Water Stations.
We hope you'll love our chicken drinkers as much we do!
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