Ditching the Water Wagon
This is how real farmers hydrate their chickens!
Our trusty water wagon has been retired after serving us well for going on 2 years. The buckets on this wagon were initially used, for a very short time, as the vessel for our compostables pickup service — and boy are we glad we discovered the square, space-efficient, and much more affordable ones we use now early on. While industrial-grade didn’t fit our pickup service, they found their place on the farm. Threading holes for waterer nipples on the bottom, their next life was hanging from the ceiling in our chick brooder. As our chicks grew, and made their way to pasture, the buckets went with them in the form of the water wagon.
Carting water to our hens worked great, especially early on when we didn’t have a water hydrant on site. We actually pulled this thing across the street to borrow water from our awesome neighbors, big thanks to The Gaines’! Definitely not a typical scene in the city. In the heat of the summer this holds enough water to satisfy the flock for a couple days, and for longer on cooler days. But as the thermometer drops below freezing, the buckets stop flowing.
It’s been an easy-enough chore to fill up the wagon a couple times a week, which is why we’ve kept it rolling this long. Despite freezing an issue only a handful of days out of the year, it is a problem worthy of solving. Last winter we managed to keep water available to them on all but the coldest of days by digging out a spot in the active compost piles for buckets with side-nippled-buckets and sticking them in. When that didn’t work we just had to change water frequently, their stirring helping keep it from solidifying too quickly. Adding a higher ratio of apple cider vinegar, a regular supplement of ours, also lowers the freezing point.
Nature prevents water from freezing by keeping things moving. If you have an old or abandoned house you may know the trick to keep a tap dripping when it becomes dangerously cold. This Winter, I decided to implement a piece of stand-by farm equipment: the farm tank float valve.
Just like in a toilet tank, when the water reaches the desired level a buoy closes a valve. These are incredibly common on farms, and can be utilized on giant tanks for large livestock. I have not been around many farms, though, so the first time I took note of this device was at Joel Salatin’s farm for the PID this past Summer. This went on the list of must-haves, and my only regret is not having researched and found this option sooner.
It took just a couple minutes of assembly and it was rocking. I removed several other water sources so they will be on this one enough to keep a steady flow. The girls love dipping their beaks, and we always made water pans available, especially on hot days. Not only will this provide a steady stream of fresh water in the winter, and that stream ensuring it stays liquid, I believe the comfort provided by non-stop cool water next August will be even more wonderful for them.
Here’s to learning how to farm!
