Water Enough for All

The BriteTap Chicken Waterer

When I was told that my next review would be for the BriteTap Chicken Waterer, I thought that just the waterer itself would be sent to me. But the nice folks at chickenwaterer.com actually included the drink cooler and assembled it with the waterer so that I was up and ready to go as soon as it got here. All I had to do was open the box and rinse out the cooler as you would with any new item that was meant to be used for drinking water.

I read the instructions, which were very simple, and filled the cooler with water. Putting the lid on the cooler, I opened the spout at the top so there would be no pressure holding the water in at the bottom.

First, Silkies get to try it out

I then took it over to the Silkie coop and put it on a 12x12x1-inch paver. The reason I sat it that low to the ground was because I was going to first try it out with some young Silkie chicks. The chicks are anywhere from a month to two months old.

Even though there was only a month difference between the chicks, there was a pretty good size variance between them. The smaller one-month-old chicks could reach the water very easily but had a little harder time figuring out which part to hit to make the water come out. The larger chicks figured it out more easily, but it was a little bit low for them.

Then, more uniform Easter Eggers

Instead of trying to find a happy medium for these chicks, I decided to move it over into another pen where I had 6-week old Easter Egger chicks that are all about the same size. These chicks are taller than the Silkies. So I brought a concrete block over and sat the cooler on the block. This seemed to be a good height for them. They were able to access the water.

The Easter Egger chicks were able to drink from the waterer easily, but there are around 30 of them—that could be too many for a 2-gallon waterer.

Finally, the adults got to test

So I moved on to one more test. I moved it over to a pen with adult Appenzeller chickens. There is one rooster and four hens in this pen. This was a new coop that we had just set up and we put a small addition onto it so they had more space in their run that was covered.

In this part of the covered run is where I thought would be the best place to set up the bright tap waterer for them. I put it on a concrete block. But since they are a much taller bird, I needed a second concrete block.

It worked for them and they, too, could access the water.

Enough water?

Since we are in Florida and it is springtime, you would think that we would be having nice mid-range temperatures, but we are actually having a lot of days in the upper 80s and 90s recently. So it is very important to be able to keep water cool here. Your bird's lives can depend on that.

I liked the idea that this was a cooler and should be able to keep the water at a lower temperature then when water is just in a 5-gallon waterer or bucket.

Another good idea about the cooler with the enclosed top is that contaminants from the air—such as dust or leaves and things that chickens like to throw around in their pens while they are scratching—stay out of their water. Their water is clean!

Depending on what size cooler you use, it could make it very easy to add supplements to their water and get accurate measurements. You could even add ice if you want it a little cooler on those really hot days.

How many birds?

Now, one of the drawbacks that you could have with this opaque cooler system is that you cannot see how much water is inside. You will have to be prepared to take the lid off and check on water levels.

You could probably get used to knowing when to check depending on the size of the cooler that you use. You would not have to check a 5-gallon cooler as often as a 2-gallon cooler.

On the BriteTap Chicken Waterer website it says that this chicken waterer is good for up to 16 birds. I do not know if that is for a 2-gallon cooler or a 5-gallon cooler, and how long the water in the cooler will last for 16 birds.

Be aware of this, and check often until you know how fast your birds are going through their water.

The BriteTap that was sent to me had an instruction booklet included with it. You can also go to their website and see instructions with illustrations that are very helpful in putting the BriteTap Chicken Waterer onto the cooler.

NOTE: The waterer is designed to attach to insulated beverage coolers such as those sold under the Igloo and Rubbermaid brand names that act as the water supply tank for the waterer. To install the BriteTap waterer, just unscrew the cooler's spigot and replacing it with the BriteTap waterer. This can be done in less than two minutes and without the need for any tools.

They do not recommend Coleman-brand coolers since they do not have that nut.

The cooler also needs to have a spout or a vent cap on top. Coolers with a solid lid will require a hole being drilled in the lid. You can also add the BriteTap Chicken Waterer to a bucket or container that you will have to drill a hole in the side for the chicken waterer to be installed and a vent hole in the lid.

Learn more on their website

There are also a couple other interesting items on their website like chicken calculators. They have a Blog also and you can look at the other products that they sell besides the waters. They have heaters and feeders. So check them out. They can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube.com.

The BriteTap Waterer