Waterer dilema

[ForFlocksSake]

Hi BYC, its your resident over thinker here!

SOOOOOOO

Ive had my flock on horizontal nipples in a 5 gallon bucket since they were old enough to use them. I liked them a lot. Water stayed immaculate, no fuss for keeping them clean and I felt like things were good. Then one day I accidentally bumped one on the ground while rinsing my bucket and started having leaking issues. The logical thing to do would be to just drill holes in a new bucket and make a new waterer, right? Well instead I decided to RESEARCH on the INTERNET.

are you and over thinker? Do you have an over thinker in your life? if so you know very well that the internet is a dangerous place for overthinking.

SO instead of just reinstalling my horizontal nipples that have served my flock well through the entire HOT HOT HOT summer I read a bunch and came to the conclusion my girls were not as well hydrated as they could be and I needed to change them to cups. I ordered the rentacoop cups that refill by lifting as they empty. The girls took to them immediately and I thought GREAT THIS IS AWESOME. However, they felt flimsy from the very start, and that concerned me. The next day I learn the real issue I hadn't thought of. They were filled with sand and debris from their beaks. This was very difficult to clean out, and while I wasn't concerned about them consuming sand, I realized that the weight of the debris in the cups will eventually cause them to fail to refill.

UGH.

So now im completely lost on what do give them. Do horizontal nipples really make it harder for them to stay hydrated? Are cups actually better? I just see it being a matter of time before the cups either break or fail to work. I don't worry as much during this time of year, but once the spring hits it gets hot and becomes incredibly dangerous for them to have water issues.

 

[rosemarythyme]

In normal temps horizontal nipples should provide enough water without issue.

In hot temperatures I have pans of water sitting out for birds to stand in to cool off, so they're free to drink from that as well, and that also addresses any concern about dehydration.

 

[ForFlocksSake]

In normal temps horizontal nipples should provide enough water without issue.

In hot temperatures I have pans of water sitting out for birds to stand in to cool off, so they're free to drink from that as well, and that also addresses any concern about dehydration.

well if that's not a completely intelligent and logical solution I don't know what is...

 

[puddle_drinker]

Hi BYC, its your resident over thinker here!

SOOOOOOO

Ive had my flock on horizontal nipples in a 5 gallon bucket since they were old enough to use them. I liked them a lot. Water stayed immaculate, no fuss for keeping them clean and I felt like things were good. Then one day I accidentally bumped one on the ground while rinsing my bucket and started having leaking issues. The logical thing to do would be to just drill holes in a new bucket and make a new waterer, right? Well instead I decided to RESEARCH on the INTERNET.

are you and over thinker? Do you have an over thinker in your life? if so you know very well that the internet is a dangerous place for overthinking.

SO instead of just reinstalling my horizontal nipples that have served my flock well through the entire HOT HOT HOT summer I read a bunch and came to the conclusion my girls were not as well hydrated as they could be and I needed to change them to cups. I ordered the rentacoop cups that refill by lifting as they empty. The girls took to them immediately and I thought GREAT THIS IS AWESOME. However, they felt flimsy from the very start, and that concerned me. The next day I learn the real issue I hadn't thought of. They were filled with sand and debris from their beaks. This was very difficult to clean out, and while I wasn't concerned about them consuming sand, I realized that the weight of the debris in the cups will eventually cause them to fail to refill.

UGH.

So now im completely lost on what do give them. Do horizontal nipples really make it harder for them to stay hydrated? Are cups actually better? I just see it being a matter of time before the cups either break or fail to work. I don't worry as much during this time of year, but once the spring hits it gets hot and becomes incredibly dangerous for them to have water issues.

The 2 gallon rubber bowls for livestock feed/water are fairly break proof and leak proof with no moving parts. I use two for about 30-40 chickens in my layer run, simple is good. For me I also wanted to be able able to clearly see the water level from a few feet away, or on camera. For mobile pasture tractors I use a hanging bell watering system with a 5 gallon bucket, these are easy to spot if the water isn't flowing as expected. You have lots of options, experiment and see what works best in your environment.

 

[thecatumbrella]

They were filled with sand and debris from their beaks. This was very difficult to clean out, and while I wasn't concerned about them consuming sand, I realized that the weight of the debris in the cups will eventually cause them to fail to refill.

UGH.

So now im completely lost on what do give them. Do horizontal nipples really make it harder for them to stay hydrated? Are cups actually better? I just see it being a matter of time before the cups either break or fail to work. I don't worry as much during this time of year, but once the spring hits it gets hot and becomes incredibly dangerous for them to have water issues.

Had the same experience. The chickens love the rentacoop cups, I loathe cleaning them 3x/day (I ended up using a turkey baster LOL).

I'm also having the same concerns using horizontal nipples. I watch them drink, and they're not getting nearly as much as they would from an open source. Do you have a large flock? I use a plastic cage cup to supplement for my 3. It holds about 16 oz and is easy enough to swish out at the end of the day. Wash once a week, easy peasy(ish).

 

[AntiqueB]

I use cups in the summer and nipples in the winter. A small paintbrush cleans out the cups pretty easily.

 

[puddle_drinker]

I'm pretty sure that if you put a clean fresh water nipple/cup/pan of water out next to a puddle of water on dirt the chickens will drink from the puddle first... as shown in my icon...

 

[ForFlocksSake]

I'm pretty sure that if you put a clean fresh water nipple/cup/pan of water out next to a puddle of water on dirt the chickens will drink from the puddle first... as shown in my icon...

Yes it’s not the cleanliness that concerns me. The way the cups work is by slightly lifting up as they empty (by spring) which triggers the water to fill the cup more. I worry the amount of sand and debris will weigh the cup down causing making it impossible to lift.

 

[Mouthpear]

In normal temps horizontal nipples should provide enough water without issue.

In hot temperatures I have pans of water sitting out for birds to stand in to cool off, so they're free to drink from that as well, and that also addresses any concern about dehydration.

Yes I like the horizontal nips.

Like you I will put out frozen fruits out, like watermelon halves, cantaloupe, peaches.

I would also drop in a frozen 2 or 3 liter bottle of water in the secondary water feeder. Place it in upside down. It would keep the water cold and eventually the bottle will empty when the water gets low. South Texas heat would melt the ice in the uninsulated container by the end of the day. Most of the water was either drank up or evaporated.

I also had a few frozen bottles laying on a thick padding of hay. Surrounded by a few cinder blocks. They would lay up next to them. Then never pulled up the hay either.

 

[Stephine]

Yes it’s not the cleanliness that concerns me. The way the cups work is by slightly lifting up as they empty (by spring) which triggers the water to fill the cup more. I worry the amount of sand and debris will weigh the cup down causing making it impossible to lift.

If you clean them every day or even two, I really don’t think there will be enough dirt in there to weigh the cups down. Just spray some water from the hose into the cups to clean them or pick up the bucket and give it a good few twists to make the water fly out of the cups. Either method takes just seconds and they are good to go again…