I LOVE horizontal nipples, but I give up.

flyin-lowe said:

I don't think the heated dog bowl is the issue with the frost bite. I know some people blame that but I don't think there is any way that an open bowl of water sitting in a coop will raise the humidity enough to cause a problem. And I have never seen chickens dunk there head into a dog bowl enough to get their waddles wet. If they have frost bite I am guessing they would have gotten that no matter what kind of waterer you were using.

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That's probably true but... With the nasty cold spell we had here last week, a couple (tiny waddles, no frostbite there) had some frostbite to their combs. The reason I thought it was the dog bowl is that one of them ( a buff Orpington with big 'ol waddles) has frostbite to her waddles but NOT comb. The picture attached is from this fall.

A couple of the ladies have such large waddles that when they drink, the waddles are getting a spa treatment!

We actually keep the water in the run, not the coop because it's on the smaller side.

First time I used horizontal nipples, the container was just put in the run with the chickens locked up. Within a couple hours they were all getting drinks. A few weeks later the chickens next door were getting drinks from the nipples as they all free ranged together. Second time was a batch of 3 month old pullets. Put them in the coop after dark. When I peeked in on them at 6 am they were using the nipples after having used a dog dish where they came from. Chickens had an open waterer for summer. This fall I locked them and the new pullets in their run and put in the horizontal nipple container. That was a few months ago and they aren't dead yet so they must be using it.

The key each time was to remove any other way they could get a drink. Chickens are not as dumb as some people think. They will use another waterer if it's easier for them to get their drink. Also, chickens are not suicidal. They WILL use the horizontal nipples if it's what they need to do.

From my experience chickens will use the horizontal nipples without being taught to do so. I have always assumed that the chickens would drink from them. They have never led me to believe otherwise.

I just installed the cup type, chickens used the right away.