Chickens Can't Tread Water

We have three water troughs for the animals on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  Animals require a lot of clean, fresh water - especially in the summer and especially if the cows are in milk.  Watching cows drink water at the trough is interesting.  They dip their mouth in the water and you can see their nostrils flare out.  Then they drink in large amounts and you can see their throats move as you see the level in the water trough going down.  To the best of my estimation, each cow drinks about 20 gallons a day, depending on the season and if they are lactating.

This water trough has a float valve.  When the water level goes down slightly, the float drops and the valve is opened, allowing fresh water to fill the trough until the float rises, shutting off the water.  The cows and goats primarily drink here.  We have a smaller trough for chickens, but some chickens do fly up, sit on the rim and drink water.

I have two similar water troughs that sit right under the drip lines on the north and south sides of the barn.  They are not attached to any water line, but are filled by rainwater running off the barn.  A two inch rain can easily fill them both up.  Since installing these troughs, they have become the favorite watering hole of choice to the cows.  As they leave the barn, they conveniently walk up to the troughs and slowly drink their fill.

There is one downside to these troughs.  They can be a death-trap for chickens.  We have to be on our toes and check the water troughs each time we go out to the barn.  Sometimes, however, we find a scene like you see below.

That's a barred rock hen floating in the trough - very dead.  It's easy to re-create events leading to her demise.  She was thirsty and didn't want to walk to the trough in front that has water filled to the top.  She flew up to the rim of the water trough and sat on the edge.  She noticed that the water level was low, but figured, "I'll just crane my neck down a bit and drink."

While reaching down to drink, she lost her balance and fell into the water, soaking her wings.  She struggled to try to fly out of the water, to no avail.  Chickens can't tread water, but she didn't die of drowning.  She died of hypothermia.  After sitting in the water, her body temperature began to fall.  She became confused and disoriented and began to shiver.  When no help arrived, she died.  We've been able to save them from time to time by taking them out of the water and putting them in a bucket with a heat lamp.  The lamp dries out their feathers and warms them up.  After just a few minutes the chicken is good to go.

Sadly, in this case, we weren't able to save her.  I brought her to the garden and buried her.  I re-doubled my efforts in checking the two water troughs for wayward hens.  I don't like losing animals.  So far, so good.