Our girls are almost two years old and we are so tired of the messy system of conventional faunt style waterers. I made two of the bucket waterers with horizontal nipples what is the easiest way to train my flock to use them? A couple have curiously pecked at the nippes but not sure if they have grasped the concept. Any ideas?
When I converted I just replaced the old watering system with the new buckets with nipples, no problems, they took right to the new nipples. I did push the nipples in, letting them run a few drops of water out for the chickens to see and left a drop on them so the chickens would get the idea.
It can take awhile for older birds to take to them....I wouldn't switch them over if the weather was in any extreme where a lack of hydration might be quickly detrimental.. The key is to take all other waterers away, make sure a few know how it works by flicking the pin until they get it. I marked the vessel where the water lever was so I could determine how much they were getting each day, but then I knew how much they drank out of the other waterers.
Mine have a nipple waterer in their coop and outside is the founts. One of them is hanging and that helps keep the water from getting yucky. Then I have one by my back door that is a plastic fount and I just put new water in it every day. So, we weren't sure if they were ever going to get the idea of the nipple waterer but we left it in the coop anyway and they must have discovered it out of boredom because they know how to use it now and I see them use it. I don't know if you could do that and let them discover it "out of boredom" and then they will get the idea? But making sure you still keep the other founts available until you know they use the nipples. Good luck!