Feeding wet mash is a time honored tradition. There is a particular version of feeder for doing it, though, to prevent exactly the problem you are having. It kind of looks like a wire version of a children’s merry-go-round that sits over or snaps onto the feed pan or is built into the side of a pen or coop, if that makes any sense. If built into the side, you can put the pan of wet mash to the birds easily, and turn if for them later so they can reach the second half of the ration if it’s too large for them to reach all the way across through the wires. I do have pictures if you would find that helpful.

Order a couple 360° Super Flow Nipples Item# WC1030 from Farmtek.com. They are $2.05 each.
I ordered about a dozen since they were so cheap.
Take two 5-gallon buckets. Make sure you have a lid that fits one of them.
Cut the bottom off of one bucket (the one without the lid).
Drill 2-3 holes in the bottom of the other bucket (the one with the lid) just a bit smaller than the diameter of the threaded ends of the nipples.
Place this second bucket inside the one with the missing bottom. I used caulk to glue the 2 buckets together. Doesn’t have to be strong since the caulk is only holding the outside bucket’s weight.
Thread nipples into the holes you drilled. Use some silicone sealant to ensure they don’t leak.
The outer bucket is there to protect the nipples when filling the bucket.
Hang the bucket using the inner bucket’s handle so that the bottom is at head height for the chickens. I used a couple short chain lengths hung from hooks in the run.
I have 14 hens and this is enough water for over 2 weeks in 90 degree summer heat.
I have make other waterers using smaller buckets placed around the yard for when they free-range.

I can send pictures if you like.

Heres our opinion on using Lime in Chicken houses. We welcome anyones imput or comments.
We put our chickens into an old farm house on our 4(ish) acre farm. It has wooden floors in it. We put down straw bedding over the wood floors for the chickens. We have 2 Geese & 2 Ducks in with 45 hens of various breeds. The ducks-geese really enjoy their bath time and make quite a wet mess in the bedding around the waterer. We used the old style gravity feed waterer with the round tray attached to the bottom. After cleaning the bedding one time we found the wood to be thoroughly soaked on the waterer side of the room. Having a 10 year background in Tilesetting, I have lots of Lime (Calcium Oxide) kicking around, it can be found @ Home Depot next to the bagged cement. Also its not to be confused with “pickling lime” used in home canning. Lime is used as an additive to cement, stucco, deck mud, etc. It is also used in crawl spaces to absorb moisture in the soil and keep bugs and rodents away. It made sense to me to use it to dry out my wood floor. I know that it can be hard on ones skin (due to the fact that its an alkali) but had never heard that it was toxic to people or animals. While our Flock o’ Fowl were outside, I applied lime to the floor, with the windows open and a breathing mask on. I broomed a 2-3 lb pile around the room, leaving a faint coating over the wood. When the dust settled I gathered up the excess Lime, then put an extra heavy amount of bedding back down. This procedeure has helped keep the wood drier and cleaner and has never seemed to harm our beloved Flock. I found later that the addition of an old shower curtain under the waterer helped keep the floor even dryer. We put the waterer on cinderblocks to put the tray 6-8 inches off the floor. This also makes it harder to poop in. Adding a waterheater splash tray also helped contain splashing but it gets very filthy very quickly. Liming the room only happens about once a month, but it helps keep the floor from rotting away.

I would also like some input on my little “problem”

I live in an area that is still heavily agricultural. I spent a lot of time last fall gathering piles of spilled wheat and barley from the combine to truck loadling process. These grains are still whole and have lots of chaff, with small bits of dirt and small rocks. Due to the very time consuming process of separating the grain from the contaminants (it sounds easy but its anything but) we’ve elected to try and feed it whole (we cant grind the grain because of the small rocks). We’ve been boiling the grain on a stove or in the microwave. When done the grain has double or tripled in size and is soft enough to be smashed between ones fingers. To this “mash” we add minced fruit-veggies, suet, breads-crackers, and even chopped household leftovers (no red meat or chicken meat). Being an agricultural area also gives me access to an inexpensive supply of potatoes. I’ll wash the potatoes then put them through a shredder (hash brown size), I usually dont cook the “hash browns” but occasionally will boil them with the grain for something different. Our birds absolutely love the puffed grain and both versions of the potatoes. The only thing that I am not happy with is the way we have to feed our birds. Right now we are using 9X11(ish) cake pans. When feeding, our birds claw the feed out of the pans onto the floor, wasting, contaminating- defacating on, and scattering the mash. Traditional feeders wouldnt work with this wet feed as it wouldnt flow down to the feeder pan as needed. The feed sticks to the insides of the container. I’m lookin for a version of a feeder that would allow the birds ready access, but keep them from scattering food or pooping in the trays. I would appreciate any suggestions or ideas on this one please! Thank u.

Trent and Jesslyns Idaho mini-farm.

Our chicken house would be too small except that it has a door to a rather large chicken yard. They can come and go as they please.

The pole was when the chickens were in the now gone barn. Our current system works well.

There is nothing wrong with clay except that we have too much on our property. We don’t have any problems with the corn.

I wouldn’t have any problem using lime except I don’t know why I would. I guess it is for order control, but we don’t seem to have a problem with that.

March 18th, 2009 at 3:15 am
Our chickens were in an enclosure in our barn until last month when a tornado blew it away:( They had a dirt floor which worked fine. Now we have them in a wooden building that used to be a playhouse. It is about 6′ x 8′. It has a wooden floor. We have about 12 birds in it.

Dallas, you should put your waterer on a longer chain and get rid of the pole, or raise the pole higher so the chickens cannot fly up to it. It really sounds a bit crowded in a 6×8 playhouse for 12 chickens with feed and water in there.

Also Dallas I am continuing to use kitty litter unscented) under my roosts. Clay is really not a bad thing. With the wire grid that is under the roost there is no problem with the chickens getting to any of the kitty litter anyway.

Lime (also know as Dololite) is a wonderful thing to use under the roost. Lime is not poisionus.

Corn will rot and smell really awful if you are trying to use it for your Cat. Besides drawing unwanted rodents when you toss it out.

So, Dallas, do you have another HOME remedy?

TO the girl that wanted to know why her Water Turned Green. The Sun turns water green. Keep it in the shade or covered some kind of way. A Wishing Well sounds lovely.

Grannie

You asked for a home remedy, but what are you wanting to solve?

All,

By the way, speaking of kitty litter, we are experimenting with cracked corn. Cats seem to like it, and there are much less questions as to where to put it. We don’t need clay anywhere on our property, and no worries with the corn having anything added to it as it was intended as livestock feed.