my chicken waterer,, get "rust" inside it lately,,Ive cleaned it out,, but everythime,, it has rust in it,, not flaky,,just rust color to it,, it a 5 gal galvanized one. If I dont clean it every 2 days,, the chickens stop drinking from it,, which is a pain , in this weather. ANy ideas?

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), March 10, 2002

Answers

We gave up on those chicken waterers for the reasons you mentioned; also one or two got so they were very hard to open for refilling. We now just use the two gallon size buckets. I bought a bunch of them from Jeffers and they have been very durable - we've used them for years for chickens, goats, whatever, and they are still in very good shape.

-- Dianne Wood (woodgoat@pacifier.com), March 10, 2002.

I use a "soft" black rubber wide bowl type dish that you purschase to feed horses from to give water to our chickens. It does manage to get dirty...but chickens are the cleanest little creatures in the world anyways. It is easier to dump and stomp the ice out of during our winters and easy to clean with a brush too. Have used the water holders too and had an awful time in the winter with them getting frozen.

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), March 10, 2002.

Stan,

I have had that problem in the past also. Most recently, the inside of the tower rusted just to the water line. I had only used it a couple of months, so I returned it to the feed store where they gladly exchanged it for another. They said the galvanized coating must have been faulty. But I have another theory: I had been adding vinegar to the water when I placed that water tower into service. It rusted nearly overnight. I learned the trick with vinegar here on the forum to clear up a problem with the hens getting "the runs". The vinegar works great. Alot cheaper than the $40 I had to pay the vet clinic the first time a hen got the trotts. And then, they didn't know what was wrong with her without doing another $150 worth of lab work. So now if I need to use vinegar I'll use a plastic bucket instead. I thought about painting the inside of new water towers before using them, but they shouldn't rust. So see it the vendor will replace it first.

Dwight

-- Dwight (summit1762@aol.com), March 10, 2002.

Had the same thing with mine to, I fooled around trying to patch it up,epoxy held for awhile,I finally just went to the plastic waterers.The old waterer is now a hanging feeder-works great for that purpose.Take care Dave (central WI)

-- Dave (duckthis1@mybogusemail.com), March 11, 2002.

I bought a Little Giant plastic waterer and I HATE it. LOATHE it. Can't seal it down well and it gushes out. For those wanting a cheap feeder use a 5 gallon bucket and a pig metallic pan. Cut holes around the base of the bucket, secure the pan to it, fill and cover. Hang it, don't set it on the ground.... Could the rust be from your water?

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), March 11, 2002.

DON'T use vinegar in galvanized waterers! Vinegar is dilute acetic acid and it was eventually eat the zinc galvanizing right off. This could possibly lead to giving your birds zinc poisoning and will fast ruin your waterers. Save vinegar for non-metallic waterers.

Stan,

How old is your waterer? Over time the galvanized type just thin the zinc out to the point the underlying steel begins to rust. How long this takes depends on the quality of the zinc coating and your particular environmental conditions. Once they begin to rust you can try to paint or coat the affected areas with something that'll be safe to be in contact with their water or replace the thing. Mine will typically go four or five years before they begin to rust and I generally just replace them when the water begins to stain bad enough that the hens balk at drinking it.

........Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), March 11, 2002.

dont know how old it is,, got it used , (and cheap of course),, and I was putting vinegar in with the water,,, is there any way to clear it up ?

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), March 11, 2002.

Stan,

Once the zinc is gone, it's gone.

About the best you can do is try to paint or coat the exposed steel with something safe. By the time you cleaned it sufficiently well and found something safe to paint it with you'd probably be out as much as a new waterer.

.......Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), March 12, 2002.