Chicken Waterer, c.1890s

Chicken waterers kept a fresh flow of water from the reservoir to the dish at the base, an example of Victorian ideas of hygiene that extended to domestic animals. Chicken waterers are similar to modern day pet waterers, in that they were designed with a water reservoir attached to a dish, which was refilled from the reservoir as the chickens drunk from it. They were preferred over a plain dish or trough, as the chickens were unable to knock over or soil the water in the chicken waterer, meaning that they always had a fresh water. 

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In the 1890s poultry keeping was “now so much the fashion”. Chickens were usually kept by ladies for household consumption, “therefore saving butchers’ meat” (Bush Advocate, 1890). There were numerous Poultry, Household and Fancier’s columns in New Zealand newspapers instructing owners of domestic chickens on the best ways to raise these surprisingly finickity birds – as well as recipes to enjoy with the fruits of their labour. In August 1897, the year this waterer is roughly dated to, an advice column recommends that “the best of all ways to guard against the evils of sun-heated water is to arrange drinking fountains for your fowls” (Auckland Star, 1897). 

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