28 Feb
For those of you getting chicks this spring, the chick stand could be a handy solution to the messy problem of chicks dragging poop and bedding into their food and water.
As suggested by Deborah Niemann, author of Homegrown and Handmade, as the birds get larger, people often hang the feeder/waterer or put it on blocks, but the same simple idea could be applied to prevent the birds from soiling their food and water.
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Posted by Ed on February 29, 2012 at 11:41 am
We use a concrete block to lift the watering containers and hang the feeders. That requires buying a special feeder which is not too cheap.
By the way, bedding and droppings still gets dragged into both, because the birds try to perch on them. Even though there is not much room on the slanted tops of both devices. Go figure. They are bird brains, after all. Anyway, we have to clean the feed and water compartments daily.
Another matter that contributes to our problem is that the birds are attracted to the watering container in the winter because we heat the water to about 40 F to prevent freezing with a thermostatically controlled heater. Our winter coop is frequently colder than 40.
In our experience, raising the devices does help though, and a block is cheaper and higher than the plastic stand mentioned,
Stelle Chicken Co-op