The importance of water - and chicken ignorance?

One day old chicks at the waterer

This is a somewhat comic one. I was reading in the one book I can recommend without any hesitation that speak about keeping chickens: the small scale poultry flock. In there Harvey U. talk about the importance of water for your chickens - and to make it available where they actually are needing it. He gives the example of cornish hens who would rather DIE than walk 10 feet  to water that is sitting in the sun.

So I believed him and I have water in the 3 areas the chickens can spend their time. I observe where they actually DO drink, and change the location if they never go there or if there is no water missing after several hours. I did also notice, when they were 4 weeks old and we had a real hot spell,  that they were laying panting in the heat of the afternoon. I sat in the coop/shade and decided to feed them water with a dropper. I say their learning process and also, many of them seemed to love taking the water from a dropper. .....  even as they were standing right next to the water. Some also started drinking after getting a taste of the water from the dropper. Not sure what it is about their thirst mechanism -  and that is so I don't say that chickens are water-supply stupid or lazy :). Maybe it is some kind of thing where only the one with the strongest drive are meant to make it in case of a drought? Who knows, but whatever the reason, there is something to be said about keeping very vigilant to provide water where it is needed at all time. Nat only do chickens drink a lot - they also need to have water in pretty close proximity of where they are being kept.The special attention on drinking and available water did bring home something else too.