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

[enola]

They are not going to figure it out as long as the 'old' watering bucket is still there. Some of them are obviously drinking from the cups. Your other girls will figure it out from watching the 'smarter' ones. Trust me.....

 

[lisahaschickens]

well, that's what I keep being told, but then I leave them with just the cups and no other water for about three waking hours and some of them acted like they were going to let themselves die of dehydration... makes me worry. That's why I'm not comfortable removing the other water....

 

[enola]

They will learn. It will not hurt them to get thirsty enough to actively hunt for another source of water after the bucket is removed from the pen.

 

[Mrs MIA]

They will learn to use it. Use your finger to push the lever and fill the cup when they're looking. They will drink the water out of the cup, and when it gets to the bottom, they will be touching the lever to get the last drops, and more will squirt out. I use it in my breeder coop, and in the summer it works great. Not so much in the winter. We used the heat tape along the length of the pipe, and it keeps the water in the system fluid, but any water in the cups freezes, locking the levers in place. Trying to get the ice out sometimes ruins the springs, and then they turn into dribble waterers and run out on the floor. As long as the coop stays above freezing, you're ok. But if you live in the deep freeze, like I do, I emptied the system in the water and went to the soda bottle waterers and just change them out when they freeze.

 

[lisahaschickens]

oh yay! Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain! I was hoping I'd hear from you... your coop page originally inspired me to get them - I thought they were such a neat idea.

Anyway, I hoped to hear from you because I know you have experience with them. I have filled the cups with my finger on the lever many times now, and they happily drink but some of them actually miss the lever and get every drop out without getting more. Others peck aggressively at the levers but they're so quick, hardly anything comes out... Overall, clearly a few of them have figured it out, but not all of them. I just don't want to harm them during the transition period. Do they really get enough water from them? It's such a tiny amount in the cups....

 

[Mrs MIA]

They do eventually learn.

I sometimes will just go through each pen and push the lever to give them a little water each time I go out there. If I see an empty cup, I push it. It is a tiny amount, but once they figure it out, they'll sit and push/drink until they're satisfied. That's the only source of water, other than puddles in the runs, and it doesn't hurt them to go without for a little while. Most of my birds don't drink all night long. I fill their water bottles at night, and most are still full in the morning. But I change them out 3 times a day in the winter. Perhaps, if you're worried about them, you can give them bowls during the day when they need it, but at night just use the cups... then slowly decrease the amount of time the bowl is in the yard until you wean them off of it. That's the only thing I can suggest. The aggressive peckers will just have to learn that they need to slow down! LOL!

 

[terri9630]

I don't have this type of waterer, but I use the nipple waterers that I bought for my rabbits. It took the chickens a few days to learn. They mostly played with it until I took out the gallon waterer. Then they started actually learning how to use it. Despite some of the stupid things they do, chickens aren't really that dumb. They will learn.

 

[lisahaschickens]

ok, thank you to everyone. I guess I should really take out their other water and hope for the best. I just don't want them to suffer or anything... but I DO want them to learn to use this new waterer if at all possible...

 

[enola]

So, how are they doing today ?

 

[lisahaschickens]

well, I went and sat next to the waterers to watch them this morning. A few of them came over and used them in that time. The water in the bucket has gone down only a very small amount since last night when I took away their other water. I will watch it closely today.

Some birds are better than others at it - some seem to drink and continue to get it to give more water as they drink. Others seem to manage to get all the water out of the cup without hitting the levers to get more. I'm going to have them spend today with that as their only source of water and we'll see how it goes. I'll post updates as the day goes by.