I need help with constructing a nipple waterer for my brooder.

[GunnyBun]

Hello all! I have read that nipple waterers are the way to go, and I have a bunch of chicks that are due to hatch next week, and I’ve raised several several batches of chicks and I’m tired of the shaving filled waterers that the little devils love to fill. That has always been a problem. Once they learn to scratch they fill the feed containers and waterers full. Then they chirp and chirp cause they don’t have any water. So I waste a lot of water having to clean out their waterers all the time. I need help constructing a nipple waterer so I can regain my sanity and once again enjoy chick raising without some of the stress I’ve been dealing with!

 

[Lemon-Drop]

I thought nipples weren't suitable for chicks, as they have trouble having pecking force? I think that you can use them after 2 weeks though.

Personally, in the brooder I raise my waterer on a brick to minimize shaving scratching (or you could use puppy pads/paper towels to line the floor, too)

For my adult nipple waterers, I use a 5 gallon bucket from Lowes, and

Here's a link to the nipples I use: https://rentacoop.com/products/chic...oWww=1&redig=FC49254F63324BEF9B0D714BDA802BCD (turn them by hand, don't use the black item included)

They work really well!

 

[Weeg]

I use this Rent A Coop waterer. Works great! No shavings!
Its not nipples, but its raised and cupped enough so that they can't kick anything into it.
I've heard you can use nipples for chicks, never taught chicks to use them, but I know you can.
If I wanted to use nipples, I would get a 1 gallon bucket, poke a few holes, and stick the nipples in that.

 

[Blooie]

I start my chicks, right out of the incubator or box, on nipple waterers and that’s all they ever have for the rest of their lives. I use vertical nipples for the first week or so. Once they are using them with no problem (and in 8 years and multiple batches I’ve never had a problem), I clean out that one, put it away until the next batch, and switch them to horizontal nipples. They figure it out almost immediately. Since I start mingling my chicks with the adults at 2 weeks, let them be out with the adults all day long at 3 weeks, and have full integration with the brooder pen completely removed at 4 weeks, they take right to the adult waterer.

I’m not sure what your question is, though. How to make a waterer? Just about any container with stiff plastic walls will work. I’ve used plastic iced tea mix jugs or ice cream buckets. I usually only put two nipples in either one. And I don’t care what the instructions on the pack of nipples say - use Teflon Tape around the threads!! Vertical nipples must be in a container that hangs, so if you’re not using a bucket with handles, poke a couple of holes near the top of your container and run a wire through it to act as a hanger. Horizontal nipples can be in either a hanging container or sitting on bricks.

Hint: A glass candle jar lid filled with those decorative glass stones from the floral department of most stores works perfectly to catch drips from the nipples! I put one under each nipple. This keeps the bedding dry under the waterer, because when the chicks drink or bump the nipples, the bedding will quickly become a swamp under there. If I have tiny chicks, they’ll not only try the nipples but also sip the dripped water between the stones. They also stand in them to reach the nipples, so they can keep up with the bigger chicks just fine.

Iced tea container with a horizontal nipple. There’s another nipple on the other side. Hubby drilled the hole and the plastic cracked a bit above it, so we just sealed it up with a little clear aquarium sealer and it worked perfectly.

Brand new babies…..2 days old….already mastering the horizontal nipples that were in there for the older chicks.

Ice cream bucket with vertical nipples underneath, which unfortunately aren‘t in the shot. But it does show being able to use the handle on the bucket for hanging.

I was cleaning the candle lid drip catcher and decided to stage a shot of one of my Silkie chicks taking a sip from it.