Nipple Waterer Help

[Bmmjz Chicks]

5 days ago I installed chicken waterer nipples in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. I have 7 chickens that are about 1 year old. I watched them for a while and they didn't do anything to the nipples. Over the last few days I have taken at least three different chickens beaks and pushed them up against the nipples. After I do that, that chicken will drink along with one or two others for about 5 minutes and then they stop. It also looked like the water level wasn't going down very fast proving that they weren't drinking as much water. My egg count dropped from 5 or 6 a day to 2 or 3 a day and so I put their old waterer back in and they went crazy. I know lots of people on this site love the nipple waterers, but how do I get my chickens to use them?

 

[renardsubtil]

I tried those and didn't like them.

I tried the cups and will probably not try anything else.

I still have the nipples on my waterer and sometimes I do catch the chickens using it, I guess it really depends on how curious/smart the chickens are.

 

[Bmmjz Chicks]

Did the cups work any better than the nipples? I thought about trying them if I couldn't get the nipples to work.

 

[Bmmjz Chicks]

No has any ideas?

 

[LoneOak]

No has any ideas?

You have to remove the waterer they are used to or they will just keep using it. Tonight before you go to bed after the birds are already on their roost, make sure the 5 gal bucket is full of fresh water and hung at the right height, just barely above their heads so they have to reach up a little. Rub a little peanut butter on the nipples and completely remove their old waterer. If they already know how to use the nipples by lunch time they will be getting all the water they need. Even if only one bird knows how the other will soon see her drinking and they will catch on just as soon as they get thirsty.

Chickens can be really finicky when it comes to drinking and it takes a little patience on the part of the flock owner -you and me- to wait on them to learn where the water is and how to get it. I did a little maintenane on my system today by removing 5 nipples and installing 5 cups. Well the birds already knew how to use the cups because I already had one in the system and had seen many of them us it like they liked it better than the nipples. I changed so I wouldn't have a wet spot in the bedding inside my coop, I'm going to stick with cups indoors and nipples outdoors where a wet spot doesn't matter so much. The first place nearly all the birds went to drink after I finished was where I had a couple tiny little drips and where drops had gathered on the poly pipe I use for my system. These birds are crazy i thought, here they are trying to get this couple of little drops off the boards and pipes when they've got a whole cup full 6 inches away that they could get all the water from that they wanted. So be patient and by dark tomorrow night they will be drinking from the nipples getting all the water they need.

Here's part of my system before todays redo. You can see two nipples -a Golden Comet drinking from one- and a cup way in the back you can barely see. I dropped it all down and eliminated the last ellbow in the system putting the cups sticking straight out.
Works great now!

 

[Arielle]

Another difference between nipple waterers and other types is that the birds seem to drink less. I'm not sure entirely why this is so perhaps less wasted water and spillage.

I do like the nipple waterers and have used them in the big brooder.

 

[Bmmjz Chicks]

I have tried adding peanut butter to the nipples and they eat the peanut butter and drink for a few minutes and then stop. In the last week we have only seen one chicken drink without peanut butter and the water level is hardly going down. I have also pushed on the nipples to get the chickens to drink from them, but then they stop after a few minutes. Once a day I have been giving them a bucket of water to make sure everyone is getting something to drink. I'm worried with the warmer weather that I might have some sick or dead chickens if they get dehydrated.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I love the cups. They have all of the convenience of the nipples but a nice open source of water for the chickens to drink from so you know they are getting enough water.

 

[Arielle]

I have tried adding peanut butter to the nipples and they eat the peanut butter and drink for a few minutes and then stop. In the last week we have only seen one chicken drink without peanut butter and the water level is hardly going down. I have also pushed on the nipples to get the chickens to drink from them, but then they stop after a few minutes. Once a day I have been giving them a bucket of water to make sure everyone is getting something to drink. I'm worried with the warmer weather that I might have some sick or dead chickens if they get dehydrated.

I did notice that with nipple waterers the water levels steadily lowered but they didn't go thru water like other waterers.

In small pens I use the pop waterers as well.

 

[Stang65fst]

I ditched my watering nipples for cups. They seemed waste more water and the coop was wet. So the cups keep the coop dry and the water level up.