I took the deck off the garden tractor a few days ago and yesterday, with a clean undercarriage since I haven't yet put the snowblower part on, took the dump cart out to the north end of the NE field. I had seen some old metal out there just inside the tree line. Looks like mostly the remains of an old folding table and a few other things. I dumped it in front of the barn since I plan at SOME time to collect all the scrap metal and get a couple of $$ for it. Also took some firewood to the porch to restock.
Eggs from Cassie, Veronica and Trill yesterday. No eggs today but I'm not surprised, Cassie laid the prior 3 days and Veronica the prior 5. Trill's was her second egg, she started 3 days ago.
Checked the girls' 5 gallon water tank this evening. Basically empty which I thought was odd but then they don't have their auto waterer now and there are 17 of them.
So I filled it up.
And then I heard something that sounded like water dripping rapidly.
Yep, one of the nipples failed and was draining the tank.
Why does this happen just before Thanksgiving?? Same as last time except only 1 this time, not 3.
I shut off the valves and unplugged the pump. Got the heated dog water dish out, filled it up and plugged it in. They had that last year as well as their "en suite" water nipples and it worked fine. The only problem is it gets dirty from all the scratching and dustbathing in the alley. As before waterer repair requires totally dismantling the open nest box since it is built into the bottom. They will have to live with their dog dish for the winter, though I don't think they mind. I'm going to make a separate water unit so I can replace nipples more easily but that may have to wait until spring.