Chicken Nipples

[VeggieGoneEggie]

I wonder if the cross shaped ones are easier to push than the square ones? My chicks are older but haven't figured them out yet. They peck and peck, but not hard enough and not in the right spot.

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These are the ones I use: https://www.mypetchicken.com/catalo...cken-Watering-Nipples-size-options-p1861.aspx

That said, it does take some learning. I remember spending one good Saturday doing house chores all day, walking to the brooder every 15 minutes to poke each nipple so that a little droplet of water sat on the little shelf under the nipple. Sometimes I'd spend some time watching them and when one went to drink the water droplet, I'd stick my finger in there and poked at the nipple to release more water. They'd watch. One by one they figured it out. <-- during this whole day, I removed all other sources of water. My sense was that as long as there was an easy and familiar source of water, they'd prefer that over the strange new things.

 

[jthornton]

Was in reference to HN's, very tapered thread, that doesn't look like an NPT, but fits pretty perfectly into an 1/8 NPT.

Got my HN's in today and the thread pitch is almost the same as 1/8" NPT at 26 TPI vs the NPT at 27 TPI. The threads are very interesting and I was not expecting a buttress thread (saw tooth looking). The taper is better than twice that of NPT (National Pipe Taper) threads.

Can't wait to put some in the bucket and see who does what.

JT

 

[aart]

Got my HN's in today and the thread pitch is almost the same as 1/8" NPT at 26 TPI vs the NPT at 27 TPI. The threads are very interesting and I was not expecting a buttress thread (saw tooth looking). The taper is better than twice that of NPT (National Pipe Taper) threads.

Can't wait to put some in the bucket and see who does what.

JT

Isn't it odd?.....try it in an 1/8 NPT...fits great, kinda blew my mind.
You won't need to tap hole, think I posted hole size, CRS.

 

[jthornton]

Isn't it odd?.....try it in an 1/8 NPT...fits great, kinda blew my mind.
You won't need to tap hole, think I posted hole size, CRS.

You know as a machinist and engineer I "have" to tap the hole even if I have to chuck the bucket up in a mill lol.

JT

 

[aart]

You know as a machinist and engineer I "have" to tap the hole even if I have to chuck the bucket up in a mill lol.

JT

Whatever floats your boat, bro.
If I had your skills and equipment, I might do the same.

 

[jthornton]

I have both vertical and horizontal nipples on my water bucket. I put a make shift wind break on the run where the bucket lives and had 11°F low temperature last night. Just wanted to report that the vertical nipples were frozen this morning and the horizontal nipples were not frozen. I think this is a good test with both types in the same bucket with the same water temperature. Now to figure out a slick way to keep the vertical nipples from freezing. I have a plan we will see how it works.



JT

 

[aart]

Now to figure out a slick way to keep the vertical nipples from freezing. I have a plan we will see how it works.

Can't wait to see it!
(pull them out and plug the holes)

I think this is a good test with both types in the same bucket with the same water temperature.

Sho Nuff!
Heater in bucket?

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Actually horizontal nipples will freeze if the water inside the bucket is not kept warm enough to conduct heat to the outside part of the nipple to keep the pooled water from freezing. I imagine vertical nipples could be kept unfrozen if the water was kept so warm as to conduct enough heat throughout the vertical shaft.

 

[aart]

Actually horizontal nipples will freeze if the water inside the bucket is not kept warm enough to conduct heat to the outside part of the nipple to keep the pooled water from freezing

That's true...if the water pools in the lip.
I've not found that to be too frequent of an occurrence.
Birds usually empty that lip.
Or it's because my water is 68F.

 

[Blooie]

Actually horizontal nipples will freeze if the water inside the bucket is not kept warm enough to conduct heat to the outside part of the nipple to keep the pooled water from freezing. I imagine vertical nipples could be kept unfrozen if the water was kept so warm as to conduct enough heat throughout the vertical shaft.

Believe me, I found out just how true this is, but it had nothing to do with the temperature of the water in the bucket itself!! I had a bucket with horizontal nipples and the first winter we had chickens the nipples froze solid - I mean icicles going from the to of the nipples, down the bucket, over the bricks holding the waterer off the floor, and down to the floor into the litter. It only seemed to happen when temps got super cold, but this is Wyoming and it's usually super cold! It was frustrating to get up in the morning, start the coffee, bundle up, grab the heat gun, go out and thaw the waterer. It didn't take long, but man, was it COLD! The water in the bucket didn't freeze - we had a small stock tank heater in there that kicked on when the water temperature hit a certain point, but the little residual drops of water left in the small cups froze and eventually the pressure of the ice in there would push open the mechanism and it stayed open until the opening into the water bucket froze it shut and no more water could leak out.

I was talking on here about it, and someone @aart was it you, or do you remember the conversation?) had one of those fancy-dancy point thermometers and tested the bucket he/she had. As would be expected, the higher up on the bucket the thermometer was aimed, the warmer the water was. Not by much, but it was measurable.

So we had made several mistakes in our setup, and we corrected those the first balmy day we had. First, we moved the nipples up a little higher on the bucket, level with the heater. Our little stock tank heater in there had a tendency to float to the top of the bucket, so we had it attached to a small round barbeque grate which was wedged firmly against the bottom sides of the bucket to hold it in place. Worked great, but raised the heater by about 3 inches, and the nipples on the original bucket were under that. Second thing we did was get those stupid hollow bricks out from under the waterer. Nothing like providing a nice place for cold air to settle. <sigh> The third thing we did was move the water bucket out to the run (yes, I foolishly had it in the coop) into a corner on the southeast side of the run where the sun would hit it. We continued to use that same exact setup year round, winter after winter, and never had another problem.