Vertical (gravity) vs. horizontal (spring loaded) watering nipples

[aart]

Quote: Agrees they drink from the cup, or what I call the 'lip'......and if there was hole in it, I don't think they wouldn't get enough water.
Some are very adept at draining the lip, others are not....some spill, splash and drip.

The orientation of the nipple in the vessel can make a difference, as well as how they use it, whether the lip will hold water.
Orienting the nipple so it will drain, if possible, might render it harder to use effectively.

Whether the water remaining in the lip will freeze or not would depend on environment...but if that remaining water does freeze, as I've observed when using them without a heater, it will keep the nipple pin from operating at all. What I saw was ice around the pin and spring on the outside and a knob of ice on the pin on the inside of the vessel....most the rest of the water in the vessel was fluid. I believe that the ice formed on the outside first, freezing the valve closed by jamming the spring...so I don't think it could freeze open and drain or make a huge pile of ice.. But I have seen icicles form on the cinder block under the nipples....I think this was from the sloppy drinkers rather than a leak.

Just my, sometimes anal, observations.

It hasn't been cold enough for long enough here to fully assess my set up yet. Lowest night temp as about 12F, lowest day temp maybe 19F.

 

[pdirt]

Love your anal observations, @aart . It's much more valuable to me to hear details rather than an overly generic, "It works great!".

It hasn't gotten cold enough around here to really test out the limits. Blooie says she notices they work great until -15F, but colder than that they've been freezing up for her. Between Blooie and iwiw60, both have said it the HN's work for them at -15F, but only Blooie has had temps colder than that. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has used the HN's in temps colder than -15F and not had any problems with them.

I don't think it often get's that cold here, but it would be good to know the temp limits on the HN's so I could plan for it, if need be.

 

[pdirt]

Just wanted to post an update. Today I noticed there are actually small mounds of ice on the ground under each horizontal nipple. I'd say each pile is about 1/15th the size of the piles made by the vertical nipples. I hadn't noticed this last winter and didn't notice it until just today...that's how small they are. My hunch is similar to aart's...chickens are dripping when they drink. Not a problem like it was with the vertical nipples, though.

 

[aart]

Thanks @pdirt ....my training in the engineering field taught me that you cannot fix a problem unless you know exactly what the problem is.....and you can't make something work properly until you understand exactly how it does work. That analytical thinking has gotten me in trouble since a very young age, I wanted to take everything apart to see what made it tick.......I still do.

Looking forward(?) to single digit F temps for 3 days next week, our first this season, to observe how the heated jug holds up... but am really glad its not negative numbers.


ETA: Found this icicle on the coop floor, near the waterer, right in front of the door where I wouldn't have missed it yesterday. I figured out exactly where it formed on the concrete block under the jug, but don't see a leak....weird.

 

[DaveOmak]

On my water nipples, when the chickens drink, a few drops run down the pipe and land on the ground... It's all sand so it sinks in....

 

[iwiw60]

On my water nipples, when the chickens drink, a few drops run down the pipe and land on the ground... It's all sand so it sinks in....

Are you using vertical water nipples?

 

[DaveOmak]

Are you using vertical water nipples?

horizontal....

 

[iwiw60]

My setup sits on some cinder blocks and occasionally (very rarely) I'll see a "damp spot" on the cinder blocks, but nothing alarming. I think it's just the girls getting sloppy!

Where I live we get really REALLY low temps. Last week we had 2 days where the night temps got down to -15 and -12!! If you're noticing the leakage coming from the "back" of the nipple where it connects to the bucket itself, you might try turning it in one more full turn.

 

[Faraday40]

Love these horiz. nipples! I used the vertical ones last winter & noticed that although the submergible deicer stopped the water from freezing, the nipples froze when we got down to the single digits. We're in the middle of a cold spell with daytime highs below zero (& wind chills -25'F). Not only can my chickens drink but the horiz nipples leak far less than the vertical ones. Last winter I had a pan below the waterer to collect the ice slick & had to knock out the ice every couple days. This year there's so little dripping, that I removed the pan completely.

This is what it looked like when I first added the new bucket. They all had to try it out.



One question:
I tried to make a smaller chick version out of a clear plastic nut container. (thinner plastic like an apple juice bottle) I used the same drill bit but it leaks from behind the nipple. Can thinner plastic be used?

 

[pdirt]

Have you tried screwing the nipple in a tad tighter or looser? Sometimes too tight will cause it to leak. Or the threads may have gotten wonky, try some teflon pipe tape. I have made chick waterers with the HN out of plastic like that and thinner (yogurt tub), without problems. Or try a new container, and don't tighten too tight.