How to Clean a Hen House Waterer
Always providing a fresh supply of clean water for your backyard poultry flock is critical to their health and well being. Most people try to empty and refill their poultry waterers at least every other day. If it is very hot outside, or if you seem to run low on water, then check it daily and consider a larger hen house waterer.
The best technique for cleaning is as follows. Use dish washing soap, preferably a mild one that is considered "food safe". If possible, soak the entire hen house waterer once a month, with some dish washing soap in the water, and add a couple of tablespoons of "environmentally safe" bleach. The bleach will help kill any germs. Soak them for at least a half hour, so make sure everything is properly emersed in the cleaning solution. Take a small brush and scrub any build up of green or any other residue. It may be helpful to keep an old toothbrush around for small areas that would otherwise be difficult to scrub. Be careful to not use any harsh soaps or cleaners that could leave behind any residue. Once you are done soaking, completely hose off all parts of the hen house waterer, making sure that there are no soap suds and no coating of any kind left on the waterer. Once rinsed, you can refill the chicken waterer and return it to the coop.
In cold weather, at least try to scrub the hen house waterer with the cleaning solution, possibly from spraying it on from a hand held sprayer. Never use one that had contained any chemical before. Cheap empty hand spray bottles are availabile in stores for spraying indoor plants, and would work fine. The key is to still wash the waterer out completely to remove any cleaning solution.
Two last considerations for you are important too. When you have the waterer out being cleaned, please provide another chicken waterer or alternative source for water availabile. Also, when you refill your poultry fount daily or every other day, try to rinse it off to remove any chicken pooh or any dirt or debris. Take a couple of moments with a brush and water to clean your hen house waterer each time you refill it. Your backyard flock will be much healthier because of your extra effort!
The best technique for cleaning is as follows. Use dish washing soap, preferably a mild one that is considered "food safe". If possible, soak the entire hen house waterer once a month, with some dish washing soap in the water, and add a couple of tablespoons of "environmentally safe" bleach. The bleach will help kill any germs. Soak them for at least a half hour, so make sure everything is properly emersed in the cleaning solution. Take a small brush and scrub any build up of green or any other residue. It may be helpful to keep an old toothbrush around for small areas that would otherwise be difficult to scrub. Be careful to not use any harsh soaps or cleaners that could leave behind any residue. Once you are done soaking, completely hose off all parts of the hen house waterer, making sure that there are no soap suds and no coating of any kind left on the waterer. Once rinsed, you can refill the chicken waterer and return it to the coop.
In cold weather, at least try to scrub the hen house waterer with the cleaning solution, possibly from spraying it on from a hand held sprayer. Never use one that had contained any chemical before. Cheap empty hand spray bottles are availabile in stores for spraying indoor plants, and would work fine. The key is to still wash the waterer out completely to remove any cleaning solution.
Two last considerations for you are important too. When you have the waterer out being cleaned, please provide another chicken waterer or alternative source for water availabile. Also, when you refill your poultry fount daily or every other day, try to rinse it off to remove any chicken pooh or any dirt or debris. Take a couple of moments with a brush and water to clean your hen house waterer each time you refill it. Your backyard flock will be much healthier because of your extra effort!
Below are 4 of the Most Popular Hen House Waterers Available, all at Cheap Prices!
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A Free Hen House Waterer Tip!
To help keep your hen house waterers clean, sit them on bricks or other solid objects so that the lip of the waterer is just below the level of your smallest hens back. Make sure the chicken waterer is completely level and cannot tip over. This will reduce much of the chicken pooh and other debris that ends up in the water and makes it more difficult to clean!
Stop Hen House Waterers from Freezing!
If this is your first year raising a backyard flock, sooner or later you will have to deal with freezing poultry water in most areas. The same think happens every year. No one considers that the first morning that you wake up to frozen water, so is everyone else in town. Your local feed store probably has a couple of items to deal with frozen hen house waterers, but after the first few frantic people in the door, they probably run out of stock and need to wait till next weeks truck to get a few more! Don't make the same mistake. At the end of this article, we have several frozen water solutions, at very low prices. Before you go, you owe it to yourself to click on a few and check them out. You'll get a great deal, and be ready when cold weather arrives!
There are basically 2 ways to stop hen house waterers from freezing. The first style is a simple, electric plug in heater base. It is made for Galvanized Poultry Waterers Only! Never sit a plastic chicken waterer on the heated style bases because it could cause damage or even a fire. Simply find a dry and safe spot to locate the heater base, fill the poultry fount, and place it on top. Please note that these heater bases do not act like a stove or hot plate. They are designed to keep hen house water from freezing. The water may very well only warm up into the 35 to 40 degree range. These bases are thermostatically controlled, so they only turn on and off as needed to save on electric costs. If you plug them inside your home to see if they work, and your room is 68 degrees, they will not turn on. Do not think anything is wrong - that is normal!
The other style is a dual purpose poly hen house waterer, that has a built in heater. You simply take the power cord out of the base and plug it in. During the rest of the year when freezing is not a worry, you tuck the cord back under and treat it like any other poly chicken waterer. The same rules apply about the thermostatic control of the built in heater as do for the separate heater base.
Lastly, unless you are lucky enough to have an electric source in your coop, run by a qualified electrician, please use great care in running extension cords to power your heated waterers, heat lamps of any electric light source. Keep cords out of puddles, or where are other animals or birds could damage them. It is best to use only "Farm Quality" extension cords. They cost more, but are worth every penny for the margin of safety that they provide!
There are basically 2 ways to stop hen house waterers from freezing. The first style is a simple, electric plug in heater base. It is made for Galvanized Poultry Waterers Only! Never sit a plastic chicken waterer on the heated style bases because it could cause damage or even a fire. Simply find a dry and safe spot to locate the heater base, fill the poultry fount, and place it on top. Please note that these heater bases do not act like a stove or hot plate. They are designed to keep hen house water from freezing. The water may very well only warm up into the 35 to 40 degree range. These bases are thermostatically controlled, so they only turn on and off as needed to save on electric costs. If you plug them inside your home to see if they work, and your room is 68 degrees, they will not turn on. Do not think anything is wrong - that is normal!
The other style is a dual purpose poly hen house waterer, that has a built in heater. You simply take the power cord out of the base and plug it in. During the rest of the year when freezing is not a worry, you tuck the cord back under and treat it like any other poly chicken waterer. The same rules apply about the thermostatic control of the built in heater as do for the separate heater base.
Lastly, unless you are lucky enough to have an electric source in your coop, run by a qualified electrician, please use great care in running extension cords to power your heated waterers, heat lamps of any electric light source. Keep cords out of puddles, or where are other animals or birds could damage them. It is best to use only "Farm Quality" extension cords. They cost more, but are worth every penny for the margin of safety that they provide!
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Hen House Tip
If you have more than 6 hens, you may find it helpful to place 2 hen house waterers in your coop. This can offer you several benefits. First, it may reduce the frequency that you must clean and refill the chicken waterers, because you have doubled the availabile water. Chicken invented the "pecking order" so if you have a couple of meek hens, they can use the "other" waterer without fear. Lastly, you may want one hen house waterer inside the coop and one in your outside pen. This way your "girls" have fresh water when they ar inside at night and when they are outside during the day. This is a one time investment that provides ongoing returns!