do chickens prefer bowls of water to the nipple system?

[pascopol]

Quote:
LOL

I do agree "Nipples are for mammals"

Some people get into raising birds then want to put up as little effort as possible to keep them.

All those 2 week "automatic" feeders, nipples etc.

Then they believe they are "interacting" with the birds, even calling them "pets" when in fact they are running semi commercial operation.

 

[matimeo]

Quote:
LOL

I do agree "Nipples are for mammals"

Some people get into raising birds then want to put up as little effort as possible to keep them.

All those 2 week "automatic" feeders, nipples etc.

Then they believe they are "interacting" with the birds, even calling them "pets" when in fact they are running semi commercial operation.

Aren't you being a tad judgmental? That's a strong assumption you're making that people who use a nipple system don't care about their birds as much as those who don't. Isn't it possible that there are some advantages for the bird as well? As was already stated in this post, they aren't actually nipples (at least I've never seen my chickens sucking on them). They are a "water droplet dispenser", but nobody wants to write that every time they say it. And water droplets are a naturally occurring phenomenon. No offense, I'm just pointing out what I see as a discrepancy in your argument.

 

[SAAVE853]

Matt, i was looking at your pictures do you have just one nipple for all of your birds or do u supplement with any thing else as well?

 

[ondreeuh]

Quote:
I think chickens enjoy open water, but that doesn't mean they're too thirsty due to only having the nipples. It's just like the way they go crazy for scratch but that doesn't mean they are starving on their regular feed. In the wild they would not continue pooping in their drinking water but that's what they do when they have an open pan. I don't want my chickens to drink their own sewage, so I don't give them pans. I have a couple hens who are separated from the pullets and they couldn't get the hang of the nipples so they do have a regular waterer, and even though it's raised up they still get dirt in it. I vastly prefer the nipple system.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
I guess you were referring to me. If you're talking about the photos on my BYC page, those were photos from when we lived in Texas a few years ago and kept a small backyard flock. We used Little Giant automatic watering bowls in those photos.

Since then we have moved to Wisconsin and bought a small farm. We have 2500 organic layer hens here. The photo above is of a much shortened version of a commercial drinking system. The nipples that folks here are using to build their own watering systems are actually replacement nipples for the type of watering systems as shown in the photo. We actually have four watering lines that are 60 feet long having a total of around 250 nipples. Those 2500 hens that I mentioned drink 125 gallons a day from nipples without any problem.

 

[SAAVE853]

Matimeo,

I was looking at your pictures do you have just one nipple for all of your birds or do u supplement with any thing else as well?


Sorry for the confusion earlier LOL

 

[Mac in Wisco]

I was wondering where you got Matt from... I see it on his photo album.

 

[matimeo]

I have one nipple in the run, one in the coop. I've also got another one out in the yard for them to use when free ranging. I only have four birds, so I figure they're spoiled.

 

[Nostalchic]

I put fresh cold water in two waterers for my chickens that I scrub clean every 2 days. But, go figure, my chickens most like to drink the water that I throw out of the horse's buckets into the dirt and dust of the paddocks - they RUN to get a chance at some of that before it soaks in. It's hard to figure out what's "natural" for a chicken, isn't it?

 

[Tamra]

I think chickens enjoy open water, but that doesn't mean they're too thirsty due to only having the nipples. It's just like the way they go crazy for scratch but that doesn't mean they are starving on their regular feed. In the wild they would not continue pooping in their drinking water but that's what they do when they have an open pan. I don't want my chickens to drink their own sewage, so I don't give them pans. I have a couple hens who are separated from the pullets and they couldn't get the hang of the nipples so they do have a regular waterer, and even though it's raised up they still get dirt in it. I vastly prefer the nipple system

Thank you for saying this. I want people to understand I love my chickens. Which is why I was concerned with them having good CLEAN water to drink. The coffee chaff in the pen is very fluffly and when it gets into the water it becomes a little slimmy and will clogg the waterer. So with out the nipple system dirty water quickly turns to no water. I change my chickens water 2x's a day so I'm not afraid to lug buckets or do a little scrubbing.​