Are nipple waterers hard to keep clean?

[3KillerBs]

but the birds don't like using them much.

Given the opportunity, my birds prefer to drink rainwater from the hollows in the overturned plastic lawn chairs.

 

[Baumshell28]

Tighten them onto the bucket by hand. Don't use the drill attachment because if you overtighten them you can crack the bucket.

I am about to switch from gravity cups to horizontal nipples (all RentACoop brand), as the shavings & dirt floor now seem to stay continuously wet underneath. I really hope this transition goes more easily in real life than I see it going in my head since my girls are just over a year old and have been using the cups since in the brooder at just a couple weeks old.....

 

[Baumshell28]

Given the opportunity, my birds prefer to drink rainwater from the hollows in the overturned plastic lawn chairs.

Mine will avoid their 4 gallon waterer at any cost if they can fuss me into filling the incredibly small metal bowl hanging on their fence when I’m in the back yard!

 

[3KillerBs]

I am about to switch from gravity cups to horizontal nipples (all RentACoop brand), as the shavings & dirt floor now seem to stay continuously wet underneath. I really hope this transition goes more easily in real life than I see it going in my head since my girls are just over a year old and have been using the cups since in the brooder at just a couple weeks old.....

I've got the RentACoop nipples and have no leaks.

DH only had the smaller-size drill bit so we used that, I CAREFULLY pared away just a little more plastic* with a utility knife and trimmed any rough edges from the drill, then I hand-inserted and hand-tightened the nipples.

If your bucket has an airtight lid don't forget to drill a little airhole into the bucket just above the level of the water to break the vacuum.

*I have a near-infinite supply of food-grade plastic tubs and buckets from my work in a grocery store deli. The plastic on some of these is softer than others.

 

[Sycamore Hill Chicks]

Mine is really easy. The water stays clean and once in a while I just hose down the outside.

 

[wamtazlady]

Besides being a way to supply clean water to chickens, horizontal nipples are a great way to supply water during the winter. I use a clear 14 gallon tote with lid and horizontal nipples. During the winter I put a stock tank deicer that is rated for use in plastic in the tote. It can get into the -20s F here in NW Montana during the winter. So far my waterer has never frozen so the birds have never been out of water.

 

[neo71665]

Been using horizontal nipples for 2 years now and will never go back. I have them in a black bucket and clean it once a year in the fall. All I do it dump the water out and pressure wash the bucket inside and out. Have only taken the nipples apart one time and seen it wasn't needed so I don't bother anymore.

Yeah chickens are a lazy creature. If there is a muddy hole in the run they will drink from it instead of the nipples. Birds have been around a very long time doing this so oh well.

 

[Krugerrand]

I am about to switch from gravity cups to horizontal nipples (all RentACoop brand), as the shavings & dirt floor now seem to stay continuously wet underneath. I really hope this transition goes more easily in real life than I see it going in my head since my girls are just over a year old and have been using the cups since in the brooder at just a couple weeks old.....

Let us know how it goes. I tried going to a horizontal nipple for my 2 week old chicks and went back to a water bowl because I couldn't be sure they were getting enough. I'll try again when they're a good bit older. (The good news is that they've grown enough that it's harder for their bottoms to poop in the water.)

 

[3KillerBs]

Let us know how it goes. I tried going to a horizontal nipple for my 2 week old chicks and went back to a water bowl because I couldn't be sure they were getting enough. I'll try again when they're a good bit older. (The good news is that they've grown enough that it's harder for their bottoms to poop in the water.)

Very young chicks aren't strong enough to trigger the nipple.

 

[3KillerBs]

I just made two new waterers this afternoon. One larger than I had because my grown birds are going through their 1-gallon waterer too fast in the warm weather we're having, one little one to use in the brooder as a training tool.

As a deli clerk in a grocery store I have access to a near-infinite supply of food-grade containers in different sizes.