Chicken Nipples in brooder?

[ALDavis]

Has anyone tried to use chicken nipples for newly hatched chicks, once moved to the brooder? Do you have to start out with the dishes? This is my first time incubating and I hated the dishes in the past with chicks. They always made such a mess. I love using the chicken nipples but I don't know if that can be the first thing used or if I have to start out with the dishes. Thanks in advance

 

[GodofPecking]

Yeah, baby chicks always seem to know that the best way to drink water is through both of their feet at the same time.

I get that a lot from mine.

I completely fix that problem with just human drink bottles. The kind everyone uses and throws out. I cut one so it is about 10cm tall. Then I cut a few finger sized holes around it a bit up from the bottom. Then I invert another drink bottle into it. Presto, the perfect drinker for chicks. They can't stand in it, although a few have managed to squeeze through the holes and so you get practice making them smaller. I mean it's just discarded human drink bottles so they are all free so who cares that you practice eh ? I get a lot of compliments for mine like "hey that's smart" and "hey that's a great idea" or "best idea I've seen so far" and so on.

I do the same for their food. The inverted bottle in that case has two pairs of cuts down from the top where the screw on lid goes, it's so that when it is inverted the crumbles can still fall out. It's the perfect crumbles feeder for no mess.

The fastest way to fill the water bottle each day after rinsing it is to immerse it in water and give it a few squeezes.

Did I mention that they are free and perfect ? enough said.

 

[Blooie]

I use vertical nipples for my new chicks all the time. Sure, it gets a bit "drippy" right under the hanging waterer, but it's far easier to scrape up the damp bedding from that small area with a spatula than it is to worry about chicks getting soaked, drowning, dumping the waterer when they try to fly up there (and they will!) or changing a gross waterer several times a day.

They get the hang of it almost immediately...one chick will peck at the shiny thing, discover that water comes out, the others come to investigate and PRESTO - training time over! I use the vertical nipples until I am positive they can all operate the mechanism well, usually about a week, then flip them to horizontal nipples. That one usually stumps them - for all of about an hour! Then they "get it" and it's all a piece of cake from there! I don't like to use the vertical nipples any longer than necessary because the trigger is so sensitive that when the chicks get to tussling around in there even their backs touching the nipples makes water come out, resulting in damp chicks!


Brand new babies already knowing how to get water from the hanging bucket.


And transitioned from the vertical nipples to the horizontal.



I used this setup - an empty powered instant tea container with a horizontal nipple - for this lone injured chick, Scout.

 

[BayBj]

I tried the vertical nipples for babies. Wasn't to much of a fan of them for babies. To each his own, I use the the soda pop bottle cap waterers for my babies.