hile choosing the right feeders and drinkers for your poultry is not really one of the toughest of decisions that you will have to make in your poultry rearing venture, there are certain things that you need to keep in mind when shopping for feeders and drinkers in the Philippines.
The General Specifications
Here are some general factors to keep in mind when shopping for feeders and drinkers in the Philippines:-
- Go for toughness. Choose poultry feeders and drinkers that will withstand fall, compression and hard impact.
- They should also be fairly durable as you will be looking forward to using them over several years.
- They should be easy to install so as to save you both time and effort. Poultry equipment that is hard to install always results in damages that might require costly replacement.
- They should be easy to clean: Poultry feeders and drinkers must be cleaned regularly for a healthy flock so make sure you buy poultry equipment that is fairly easy to clean.
- They should be stable: You don’t want to poultry feeders and drinkers that the chicken can easily topple as this will lead to hygiene issues as well as feed and water wastage.
- Choose brilliant colours: Chickens are generally attracted to more brilliant colours especially at a young age so go for poultry feeds with bright colours especially red, orange or yellow colours.
Buying Poultry Feeders
You can buy either wall mounted or free standing poultry feeders. If the chickens are in raised in cages, the cages will come with feeding rails as part of the accessories. The feeders should either be made from plastic materials or galvanised materials.
Wall-mounted poultry feeders
Wall mounted poultry feeders will require a wall where they can be mounted. You can mount them on the fence, coop wall, cage wire or even a side netting in your poultry coop or range area.
Standard poultry feeders
These are by far the most popular poultry feeders and they tick all the right boxes as per as the chicken requirements are concerned. To reduce the risk of vermin, do not overstock them with feed. They also need to be washed on a regular basis.
Poultry Drinkers in the Philippines
You can buy plastic or galvanised poultry drinkers. The plastic ones tend to be quite popular while the galvanised ones are bigger and heavier and are thus suited for larger commercial operations. Plastic poultry drinkers are not only smaller but also generally cheaper. Many of the nipple drinkers are made of plastic.
While buying poultry drinkers is a fairly easy and straightforward decision, here are some useful tips that you need to keep in mind when buying poultry drinkers in the Philippines:-
They Should Be Easier to Clean
Make sure you choose poultry drinkers that are very easy to clean. You should be able to get to the rims and other tight nooks and scrub off the algae. Dirty is water is one of the main pathways for diseases and pathogens into your poultry’s body so ease of cleaning should be a key consideration when buying poultry drinkers.
Make sure it is stable
Chickens are messy and if your poultry drinkers are not stable, the chickens are likely to topple it and spill the water all over the place. Choose drinkers that can stand on the ground without toppling over to preserve the water for the chickens.
Durability
Choose poultry drinkers that are very durable so that you can use them on multiple poultry rearing cycles. If you choose good quality drinkers, they will serve you for more than two years hence saving you money. Check them frequently for cracks, though.
Size is a factor
The drinker should be able to hold enough water to keep your chickens well supplied throughout the day even on the hottest of days. The chickens should be able to comfortably drink out of the poultry drinkers. If you have chicks, then you will need smaller sized drinkers.
Safety and Hygiene
The design of the poultry drinkers should be such that the chickens cannot perch on them easily and drop their droppings in the water which is likely to cause diseases in the flock.