How to make (and mount) a nipple waterer for your chick brooder

You could use any poultry nipple to make one of these chick waterers. They're fairly easy to come by online. You do want to pay attention to the size of drill bit you need, as that varies by nipple type and application.
 
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Bought mine on eBay. That came the same week. Mine were the screw in type but I had to push them into the 5 gal bucket. They don't leak though and its working great for my meaties who drink 5 gallons on two days! They figured it out in 15 sec exactly!
 
This is genius! I just got some baby chicks and I'm already giving them water with an old bike water bottle with a nipple in the bottom, but it never occurred to me to do this. Thanks!
 
Hi, just wanted to comment because I tried your awesome tutorial. We borrowed the cages from our bikes and used freebie water bottles we had lying around, following your instructions as posted with a piece of wood (pre-drilled) as support. We used a 5/8 drill bit to make a hole (the nipple pkg called for 21/64) and some elbow grease to thread them in. We practiced it on a plastic coffee container to make sure it would fit without leaking. Our chicks were a week old already, so I was really nervous that they wouldn't learn it. After about half an hour of watching them I was ready to put their regular waterer back in thinking they were going to die of dehydration with little water droplets on their head from me trying to interest them. Then I managed to teach one, and in another 10-15 minutes the other 12 picked up on it - so enthusiastically that they managed to give themselves a little diarrhea and soak the cardboard wall, giving me new things to panic about. The novelty wore off after a bit, though, and today they're pooping normally, drinking consistently clean water, and not soaking the cardboard (although if they do it again I may put some duct tape on the wall beneath the waterer to keep the cardboard from getting wet too often and coming apart.) it's sooo much nicer to only have to fill water once a day and not have to clean it out. We put cookie tin lids filled with shavings underneath to catch drips so those shavings could be dumped easier and keep the bedding dry, but I'm not sure how necessary that will be.
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MountainGoat, I'm really glad it worked out for you. We still love our bottle waterer and will be starting our next round of chicks on it too. Funny how they all catch on once one does. Your tip about putting something under to protect the cardboard is a good one. Thanks!
 

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