chicks drinking enough water? using nipple waterer

[ngraysmith]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that the nipple waterer works. They are definitely drinking some, just not as much as I would have thought!

Nicole

 

[nuttyredhead]

I love the nipple waterers, im waiting for more in the mail!!! I had a problem with my original ones and someone threw out my bucket while it was waiting for me to fix it grrrrr....
So i have more on the way! Can't wait for them to get here, Im tired of changing the 4 week olds water just to have mama jump on it and poop!!!!! YUCK!!!

I do also use a plastic one outside in the summer, i think they need more water when the weather starts getting warmer.

At some point i am going to think about using a pvc pipe with the nipples insead of a bucket.

 

[ChickenLord]

I just fit my PVC pipe tonight. Have to drill holes in the plugs for the nipples tomorrow and wount the whole thing, but really looking forward to no longer having to clean the water bowl.

I was just using a 2 1/2 gallon dog waterer, which seems to work fine for the most part. I just have to clean the blasted thing every other day and put fresh water in every morning. The plus side to that is that the blueberry bushes seem to love the poop water... now I'm going to have to fertilize them... sheez.

This has been a very interesting experience for me... constantly improving the pen for the chickens while we wait for our first egg in return.

L8r

 

[jisele]

When making a nipple waterer make sure the bucket is a food grade bucket. Other buckets can leach the dye or the chemical they use to release the bucket from the mold.

There are numbers on the bucket. #2 inside a triangle is made of high-density polyethylene. If they were originslly used for food storage or are new, they should be safe. But if they've ever had chemicals etc, they are no longer safe as polyethylene is very porous and absorbs...so you can't clean it if it had something dangerous in it. Also you'll have better luck placing the bucket out of the sun. The sun causes brittleness, quicker breakdown and quicker algae growth. The black buckets are supposed to eliminate algae but they're dyed black. They're sold as food grade so I guess its a safe dye (is there a safe dye?).

Juice and drink bottles are usually a #1 or PETE which means one-time use. They break down quickly and you could refill them a few times but are not for repeated use.

#4 is Low Density Polyethylene, which isnt a good choice.
#5 is Polypropylene which will leach chemicals and dyes when heated or used for storing liquid for a long period. Not good.
#7s are made from plastic-like materials that are synthesized from plant based sources (like corn). They are non-reactive and would be a good choice, but the industry uses 7 as a catch all so not all 7s are bio-plastics.

The people on this site are devoted to their individual chickens, so why risk your babies. Use a #2 bucket (preferably white) that came with food in it or buy one and make sure that its only used for food or water. You can order them on line with lids, w/o lids, lids with spouts, lids w/ gaskets. You can order just the lids and if you use the buckets w/gaskets (really keeps food fresh) you can also get an lid opener that makes getting the lid off easy. Buckets are under $5 and lids are under $1.

I don't know about Lowe's etc, but they should be ok if they are #2, but I still don't trust that orange dye.

Don't forget that dyes and chemicals leach into dry food also.