Chicken Nipples??

[debid]

I made my own bucket with the nipples on the bottom. It's a heated bucket so that in the winter it does not freeze. One thing I'm worried about is if my chickens are getting enough water?? I have had the bucket up for 3 weeks now and they all know how to drink from it, but they all come running to the corner of the outside run when I turn the hydrant on and went crazy when I made a puddle of water in the run. Any ideas on this? Maybe they don't get enough water from the nipples? Anyone else with this problem?

It's not that they're dehydrated. If you had a traditional waterer, they'd still run to a puddle. There's just something about novelty water that gets them all worked up. Mine go absolutely bonkers and drink until they vomit when the water runs across the driveway. Silly chickens.

Oh, and I have the dangling bucket style. I opted for this to make it easy to adjust the height (they've been using the nipples since they were tiny chicks) and easy to keep it from freezing (bucket heater).