General Chicken Waterer FAQ

What's so special about the Avian Aqua Miser?
Watering used to be our least favorite part of chicken care.  As we pulled our chicken tractors over uneven ground, watering containers would tilt and drain dry leaving our chickens thirsty on hot summer days.  Our chickens pooped in the waterer reservoirs and on top of the handles --- nasty for us and them!  The Avian Aqua Miser solved all of our problems.  Our hens now get to drink nearly unlimited clean water!  Plus, in the summer we can pamper our hens by putting ice cubes in the Avian Aqua Miser for hours of cool drinks.

How does my chicken drink out of the Avian Aqua Miser?
The chicken nipple at the bottom of your Avian Aqua Miser is designed to release water from the reservoir when touched.  Your chickens will quickly learn to peck and lick at the nipple because of their attraction to the color red.  If they don't catch on right away, poke the nipple a few times with your finger letting the water drip out onto the ground and your chickens will soon figure it out.  Instructions that ship with your waterer will give you a more detailed approach which works for recalcitrant hens.  Our hens figured out the nipple in less than five minutes!

How many Avian Aqua Misers do I need?
An average chicken drinks 100 mL of water on a cool day, but can drink three times that or more on a hot summer day.  Older chickens also tend to drink considerably more water than younger birds.  Since the Avian Aqua Miser holds 2,000 ML of water (about half a gallon), we recommend purchasing one unit for every five hens.  Buy an extra if you want to be able to go out of town for the weekend!  Some folks with large chicken coops have had good luck buying our three pack DIY kit and installing the nipples in the bottom of a five gallon bucket.

Where should I hang my Avian Aqua Miser?
The Avian Aqua Miser should be hung so that the base is approximately 18 inches above the ground.  (We sometimes recommend hanging them lower for the first day so that your chickens are sure to notice them.)  We hang ours from the top of our chicken tractors, but you can also put a screw in the wall of your coop and hang it there.  The attached hanger makes it easy to hang your Avian Aqua Miser from just about any surface.  Click here to see alternative mounting methods.

How should I care for my Avian Aqua Misers?
Aqua Misers require very little care.  Rinse every few weeks with warm water and your chickens will be drinking clean water all day long!

Does the Avian Aqua Miser work in the winter?
The Avian Aqua Miser shouldn't be frozen, so we recommend taking it in on winter evenings then putting the refilled Aqua Miser out the next morning.  On extremely cold days, you may need to swap your cold unit out for one full of warm water during the day.  So much easier than breaking ice out of a conventional chicken waterer!

Is the Avian Aqua Miser's plastic container safe for my birds to drink out of?
We use food-grade plastic in our Avian Aqua Misers to protect your chickens' health.

Why haven't I seen anything like this before?
The Avian Aqua Miser is based on the method industrial chicken farms use to water their birds.  In the industrial farms, multiple nipples are attached to a long hose so that each bird has a way to drink clean water in its own cage with no spillage.  Unfortunately, the hose setup is hard to carry over to the backyard chicken operation since many nipples require high water pressure to work.  We developed the Avian Aqua Miser to be the best of both worlds --- clean, fresh water for your chickens to drink, but no hoses to drag behind your tractor or clutter up your yard.

Will the Avian Aqua Miser work for ducks?  Geese?  Turkeys?  Quail?
Yes to all of the above!  However, ducks should also be given a wading pool or other body of water to swim in.  You may need to mount your waterer higher or lower than the height listed in the instructions depending on your birds' stature --- the goal is to have your birds reach up to the nipple in the bottom of the waterer, but not to have to strain to reach it.  Your birds may also drink more or less than the amount listed above depending on their size --- use your common sense and assume a full grown turkey drinks a lot more than a duckling.

How will I get my ebooks?
All orders come with bonus ebooks and videos.  These files will ship on a CD in pdf format.  You will need to open these files with your computer, not with a CD player.