I couldn't be more pleased!!
My family has tried just about every imaginable chicken waterer on the market and not one of them has kept the water clean, nor have they been low maintenance. Honestly, we had resorted to a feed bucket filled to the brim for the hens because at least we could quickly dump it on a plant, wipe it out, and refill it. All the other waterers meant taking them apart, scrubbing the tray AND the reservoir, trying not to drop it while we carried it back, etc. Even if it had a reservoir, because it was gravity fed into a tray, muck seemed to get in there and contaminate the water. Totally frustrated, we assumed a basic bucket was as good as it was going to get.
Then I came across the Brite Tap. Reading about the design, I thought it HAD to be an improvement over what we were using. And theoretically, it might actually be a home run. So I contacted Mark, the designer and owner of Brite Tap and got ahold of his product and whisked it out to the chicken coop.
I introduced it to the adult "girls" first to see how they like it...
Too excited to hang it or do anything fancy, I just stuck it on whatever surface was available... an extra nesting box. Within a minute they had to investigate. No coaching needed, these gals knew this produced the good stuff... cool clean water. They were lining up for a turn at the water cooler.
The height seemed just about right at 22 inches off the floor.
Right now several of you may be thinking "yeah, I tried using nipples on a bucket but the water got horribly dirty on the surface, almost like mold, due to dust in the coop and other debris". I know... happened to me time and time again. Plus, I had a terrible time refilling those buckets with the nipples on the bottom because you couldn't set them down ANYWHERE or you would ruin the nipples.
Mark solved that with the Brite Tap. The nipples are attached to a little enclosed mini-tank that is attached to the front (not the bottom) of your container.
And just in case it gets dirty for some weird reason, those red plugs on the side come out so you can get in there and give it a gentle scrubbing. Oh, and since it's clear, you can see if there's water in the cooler or not, but I find that by lifting it a bit, I can judge if it's getting low on water or not. Seems like we refill ours about ever 3 days for 5 hens - give or take depending on heat, etc.
After filling the cooler, you just pop open the vent (see photo below) and tilt it forward so the water runs into the clear mini-tank and fills it up. Then hang or set it on a surface with the mini-tank and nipples extended beyond the edge.
Next I tried the Brite Tap with our new chicks. Sorry I don't have a photo of that, but trust me... it took them only seconds to figure out the system. I set it up on a cement cinder block for now, but as they grow, we'll raise it up to fit their needs. Let me just say it again... It's SO CLEAN!!!!
Most of the time, we just use a watering pail to fill the tank, but after about a month, it gets dusty on the outside so I'll just give the whole thing a quick hose down, rinse it out good, and start again. No scrubbing, just the blast from the hose takes care of it (they've yet to climb on it and poop on the cooler... hope it stays that way!).
Just a few other side notes...
• You can find out more about Brite Tap Chicken Waterers, including care instructs, set up videos, cleaning supplies, and FAQs, right HERE.
• Brite Tap is sold with or without the cooler, so if you have your own, you can possibly retro-fit it with the waterer.
• Mark has a great chicken blog HERE and has a new app for both iPhone and Android (see HERE).
This is a 5 STAR product friends! No fudging... it does what it says. I'm saving my dollars to buy a second one because I often keep my flock in two separate groups. Now if I can just get Mark to design a goat waterer that works as well as this one, I'd be the happiest homesteader both sides of the Mississippi!
