The best chicken waterer for every occasion
Now
that we have both the Avian Aqua Miser and EZ Miser available (plus kit
forms of each), I often get asked --- which chicken waterer is the best
for my situation? This is the time of year when even folks who
don't have chickens...yet...are interested in the answer, so I figured
I'd post the answer here rather than on our chicken blog.
Our Avian Aqua Miser Original
is my go-to waterer for chicks during their first week of life, for
chickens in a tractor, for broody hens, and for small numbers of birds
in the winter. If you've got a flock of five or fewer hens in your
backyard, you'll love the utility of this little waterer, which stays
perfectly clean due to its hanging nature and is simple to carry inside
on cold nights. Mark's first waterer invention barely takes up any
space, so is perfect for tight spaces, and the Original holds enough
water for up to 25 chicks per day when they're a month or less old.
On the other hand, we prefer EZ Misers
for broilers as they get larger and for farm-size flocks of
layers. With these larger numbers of birds, you're going to have
to allot more space anyway, so having a waterer that sits on a
cinderblock isn't usually a problem. In fact, it's handy to be
able to set EZ Misers out in pastures where no infrastructure exists to
hang a waterer. Plus, the larger capacity of the EZ Miser means
you don't have to fill the waterer as frequently, which is a boon during
busy summer days when you're catering to two flocks of broilers and a
dozen laying hens. Being able to set the EZ Miser down while
filling saves yet more energy.
The kit version of each
is a way to save money, and also allows you to make a waterer that fits
your farm to a T. For example, this video shows how to turn our Avian Aqua Miser Original kits into a heated waterer that's good down to at least 14 degrees Fahrenheit --- that's what we used in our main coop this winter. And our EZ Miser kits
allow you to install watering spouts into the side of just about any
plastic container --- imagine a 55 gallon barrel set in your pasture
with six spouts around the edges for watering over a hundred birds for
days on end. To tempt you to try out one of these scenarios, we've marked our most popular EZ Miser kit down to $36 this week --- enjoy!
I hope this rundown helps
you figure out the perfect waterer for your farm this year. We'll
be starting eggs in our incubator soon and are looking forward to
fluffy spring chicks, so we'll be suiting words to action shortly.
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I just ordered one of the EZ Miser kits a few days ago. Doesn't it always seem like things go in sale right after buying them? Thanks, though, for all the great homesteading and chicken info. Looking around at different watering options, we could've gone with something different and maybe cheaper, but I wanted to spend my money supporting people who offer so much good information so freely (plus, it looks like a great product of course!). We really appreciate all the hard work you put into making a quality blog. We live in the city, but have slowly been improving our little homestead through more intensive planting, leaf harvesting, and mulching. With our two greyhounds finally gone, we are taking the plunge on chickens this spring. I also have my eye on quick hoops to get our garden started early. Alas, we are in the middle of a crazy snow and ice storm cycle (we live in Portland, OR), so that will have to wait a bit!
BTW, the mail-lady came while I was in the middle of writing this, and our EZ Miser kit just came. Thanks for the super speedy delivery!!