During lockdown I bought a couple of drinkers from SPR Centre in West Sussex, as the hanging handles had broken off my old ones.
The ones that I bought from SPR were "mushroom drinkers", so named because of their shape. I chose them because they could stand up or hang & had metal handles, so I figured that they'd be long lasting.
From the start, attaching the base to the body of each drinker was a real pain, but I naively figured that it was because they were new & that it would get easier. I was wrong. Most days it took at least 7 attempts to attach the base to the drinkers after filling it. (I'd always been able to do this on the first attempt with previous drinkers from other suppliers.) Seeing to the hens in the morning went from being my favourite part of the day to being the job that I dreaded thd most... :-(
After a few weeks of use, the first of the mushroom drinkers fell apart, soaking me in the process. I contacted SPR Centre to let them know & to ask if they could swap the drinkers for a different model. I sent photos & they promised to get back to me but I heard nothing.
Looking on their website, they had discontinued the mushroom drinkers, which suggests that I wasn't the only person to find them not fit for purpose.
After chasing them today, they have refused to refund me for the faulty drinkers and have only offered me 20% off the cost of two replacement drinkers (& I'd still have to pay more p&p). Not surprisingly I have absolutely no intention of buying from SPR Centre again, so I won't be letting them rip me off again.
My question is, which drinkers would you all recommend that can
A) stand up both the right way up & upside down, so that I can fill them & carry them up to the run upside down so that they don't dribble over my feet en-route,
B) not weigh a tonne, I.e. I don't want metal ones as they're too heavy for me,
C) which hold at least 6 litres so that they don't freeze too readily on a cold night
D) hang up, so that they stay level & don't empty themselves &
E) balance upside down on my hip while I open the door of the run?
Before these horrid drinkers from SPR, I've used the Gaun drinkers. The only reason I tried different ones this times was because the Gaun drinkers broke where the handle attached after about a year last time; I'd hope that the next drinkers would last at least a couple of years.
Any suggestions, & which suppliers would you recommend?
The ones that I bought from SPR were "mushroom drinkers", so named because of their shape. I chose them because they could stand up or hang & had metal handles, so I figured that they'd be long lasting.
From the start, attaching the base to the body of each drinker was a real pain, but I naively figured that it was because they were new & that it would get easier. I was wrong. Most days it took at least 7 attempts to attach the base to the drinkers after filling it. (I'd always been able to do this on the first attempt with previous drinkers from other suppliers.) Seeing to the hens in the morning went from being my favourite part of the day to being the job that I dreaded thd most... :-(
After a few weeks of use, the first of the mushroom drinkers fell apart, soaking me in the process. I contacted SPR Centre to let them know & to ask if they could swap the drinkers for a different model. I sent photos & they promised to get back to me but I heard nothing.
Looking on their website, they had discontinued the mushroom drinkers, which suggests that I wasn't the only person to find them not fit for purpose.
After chasing them today, they have refused to refund me for the faulty drinkers and have only offered me 20% off the cost of two replacement drinkers (& I'd still have to pay more p&p). Not surprisingly I have absolutely no intention of buying from SPR Centre again, so I won't be letting them rip me off again.
My question is, which drinkers would you all recommend that can
A) stand up both the right way up & upside down, so that I can fill them & carry them up to the run upside down so that they don't dribble over my feet en-route,
B) not weigh a tonne, I.e. I don't want metal ones as they're too heavy for me,
C) which hold at least 6 litres so that they don't freeze too readily on a cold night
D) hang up, so that they stay level & don't empty themselves &
E) balance upside down on my hip while I open the door of the run?
Before these horrid drinkers from SPR, I've used the Gaun drinkers. The only reason I tried different ones this times was because the Gaun drinkers broke where the handle attached after about a year last time; I'd hope that the next drinkers would last at least a couple of years.
Any suggestions, & which suppliers would you recommend?
