Cup-Waterers - need help understanding - **UPDATE**

[lisahaschickens]

Hello,

Yesterday we installed a cup-watering system. The brand is Easy Garden and we ordered it from McMurray Hatchery. There is a picture here:

http://www.easy-garden.com/watering.php

However, I can't figure out how it is supposed to work. The installation was easy enough, but to get water into the cups, you have to hold down the yellow levers - how are the birds supposed to get water from it? So far I have only seen one bird peck at the yellow lever, which I'm not sure is effective. It seems like not much water is ever in the cups at one time.

I want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong here. If anybody has experience with these (I know Mrs. AK-Bird Brain does from her coop design page), I would love some insight. The product does not come with any explanation of how the birds are to use it and MM's and Easy-Garden's websites aren't any better...

Until I can make sure they won't die of dehydration, I've left their regular waterer in there too.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

~Lisa

 

[lisahaschickens]

Nobody knows anything about cup waterers?

My birds are pecking at them a lot and getting a bit to drink, but I fear it's not enough....

Anybody have any thoughts?

 

[ams3651]

i dont have any experience with it with chickens but with other animals they will get the hang of it. Just that they are pecking it shows they are figuring it out.

 

[Glenda L Heywood]

Did either of you CALL and talk to a agent for mcmurray's?
if they sold the outfit then they should be able to give you satisfaction
looks like a lemon in sense of making enough water for the birds

is there a refund pkg with this outfit?

call until you get some satisfaction

and please get water to the birds
the chickens water is 855 of the body fluids and its eggs

 

[Judy]

Quote:
What she said.

Maybe there is a trick to operating it. Instructions these days are so often incomprehensible, I think because they are often not written by people whose primary language is English.

 

[ChooksChick]

My understanding is that with those systems the water pressure can't be terribly strong or the trigger requires more pressure than pecking can manage. Do you know whether the pressure of your water source is not more than is allowed?

 

[lisahaschickens]

As I said in my first post, my chickens have their other regular 5 gallon waterer and they are fine. I wouldn't let them go without. I don't appreciate the alarmist responses.

And I don't think anything is wrong with the system either. I just am trying to make sure I am doing it properly.

ChooksChick -

Thank you for a reasonable response, I appreciate it.

Yes, it is a low-pressure system designed to be used with a 5 gallon bucket of water, which is exactly how we assembled it, so I think the pressure is fine.

When they do peck at the levers, it doesn't take much effort to move them, but a quick peck only releases a drop. You need to hold it down for maybe 2-3 seconds to get a decent amount of water. What often happens is that they drink all the water around the levers and avoid hitting them. They do like to peck at the whole thing - levers, cups, the pipe, etc... but they are quick pecks so far, and that's why it doesn't seem like it's going to work that well.

Perhaps they are getting more water from it than I can tell. I am not comfortable using it without their regular fount yet, but that is my goal. I am hoping someone who has used them before will be able to give me some advice. Perhaps I will PM Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain. I will also try to call McMurray tomorrow if I can't figure it out, of course. I was just looking for advice from people with personal experience before trying to call the hatchery which will probably only be able to read the instructions to me.

 

[DarkWolf]

I can't add anything to this besides that I'll be watching for what you do. I was considering this type of waterer, but am leaning more to the type shown as a "Tripod". You can get it as a stand alone waterer on eBay pretty cheap. Depending on what you find out will sure influence what I get for mine.

 

[hippichick]

I'm interested in this also, as we just ordered these last week, but haven't installed them yet. I hope they work. They would make my job so much easier. Lisa, I hope you post what you learn about them. We'll be installing them next week, and I don't want to go through the trouble, not to mention-they weren't cheap, if they don't work.

Paula

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

It takes a bit for the birds to get used to them, i keep my bucket about a foot above the cage, what I did was keep an eye on the water level. you can not have other waters in the pen then they will not learn to use the cups. I kept fill the cup manually for a couple days once my seramas realized pecking the yellow leaver got them water they did fine. took about 3 days.