Best chicken waterer?

Date sort Score sort
Herweyer 5

Herweyer 5

In the Brooder
5 Years
Nov 15, 2014
27
1
32
Hi everyone, we live in Michigan and wondering what the best chicken waterer is we have heard of this nipple waterer and wondering if that was the best, thanks
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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Mountain Peeps has shown you a great heated waterer. They work really well. I have never use nipple waterers but some people swear by them. Here is a thread on nipple waterers....https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/853014/nipple-watering

Good luck and stay warm this winter!
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Many people love nipple waterers and say they work wonderfuly. They have never worked for me though. I tried it and my girls became weak and dehydrated because they couldn't figure out how to drink. But if you start your flock while they are young, then the nipples should work just fine.

This is my personal favorite waterer.


It's easy to take apart and clean. Plus it's plastic so I can put ACV in it. (You can't put ACV in metal waterers.)

Good luck!
 
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Glad you joined us!

There are many types of waterers, all with advantages and disadvantages. Some work great for some people, and terribly for others--it varies depending on your situation and birds. I personally started out using a waterer a lot like the one Mountain Peeps suggested. It worked pretty well, but I began to have problems with it leaking, and it was constantly getting dirty.

So, I did some research on other waterers and came accross the nipple waterer. I purchased a few nipples, attached them to a large pitcher, and hung it in my chickens' run. They quickly started experimenting with it by pecking at the nipples, and learned that they could get water from it. Those particular chickens have been using a nipple waterer for two years without any problems. The water stays clean and I've never had problems with it leaking. However, I will say that the chickens don't seem to like the nipple waterer as much as a regular waterer, and gladly drink other sources (rain puddles, dishes of water, etc.). I have not had any cases of dehydration with them, though, and all of them continue to be good egg layers.

For another group of my chickens, I decided to use a different type of watering system: an automatic, cup-based waterer. In the coop are two large containers with lids that feed water into plastic tubing, which leads down to automatic water cups at chicken-level. To get water, the birds simply press yellow plungers in the water cups, which fills the cup with a small amount of waterer. I've been quite pleased with that particular automatic watering system, though occasionally, it does leak for no apparent reason.

Both waterers are relatively easy to keep unfrozen in cold weather. I have a small submersible heater in the nipple waterer that keeps the water thawed until temperatures get below 5 degrees F. or so. When that happens, I just bring the birds out water several times a day. My automatic cup-based watering system is kept unfrozen since it is in a mildly heated coop. I think a submersible heater would work fine in it too, though.
 
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Welcome to BYC!
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We're glad to have you.

I personally have had excellent success with nipple waters. They keep the water clean and water isn't wasted (by splashing out). My chickens learned how to drink from them quickly and I haven't had any problems. Because of my set up, I can easily put a small livestock water tank waterer into the water container that the nipples are attached to, and my water doesn't freeze.

With this said, my birds do seem to prefer other types of waterers. They drink from the nipple waterer, but whenever they see puddles of water, they run to it and start drinking.
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I don't think that they are dehydrated, they just seem to prefer other water.
 
THANK YOU all for your wonderful information! and help, it is so great to have people that enjoy chickens and can help people learn more and be a better handler for them, thanks again!
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Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. Some members swear by the nipple waterers, but I was never able to get them to work like they were suppose to. I personally like the galvanized waterers with heater bases under them to keep the water from freezing in the winter. You can see one of the base heaters at https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/no_freeze_heater_base.html. They work very well. Please feel free to ask any other questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in getting your waterer.
 

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