Do you use a hanging waterer?

[Usedtowanna]

Saw them at Tractor Supply and thought it would be a great solution to our chickens kicking wood chips into their water. BUT they can't seem to figure out how to use it. I show them but they don't "get it". Any suggestions? They peck at the water that drips down.

 

[jess924]

I have a waterer that hangs and the chickens peck at. They were relatively young when I got it and any introduced have been “taught” by the older birds. To teach the first batch of chickens I sat down and pushed it when someone came near. They are inquisitive so were interested in how the water on the ground was getting there. Yours looks like a nipple or thimble on the bottom which think would make it harder to teach...mine are on the sides of the bucket. I will attach a pic to show you how mine are. I absolutely love mine and have used it for the last chicks in their brooder as well so they can learn from the get-go and prevent a messy wet brooder...would like to get a smaller quart size one as it does take up a bit of room meaning my brooder is usually quite large

 

[jess924]

I have a waterer that hangs and the chickens peck at. They were relatively young when I got it and any introduced have been “taught” by the older birds. To teach the first batch of chickens I sat down and pushed it when someone came near. They are inquisitive so were interested in how the water on the ground was getting there. Yours looks like a nipple or thimble on the bottom which think would make it harder to teach...mine are on the sides of the bucket. I will attach a pic to show you how mine are. I absolutely love mine and have used it for the last chicks in their brooder as well so they can learn from the get-go and prevent a messy wet brooder...would like to get a smaller quart size one as it does take up a bit of room meaning my brooder is usually quite large

Has 2 on nipples on 2 sides and is considered a corner waterer

 

[Gallinarium]

I use nipples in a five gallon bucket, hanging. Looks like it might be the same basic idea. I took a couple of my chickens, and bonked their beaks against the nipples until the water came out and they drank some. They started to get the idea after about fifteen minutes. The three chickens started regularly drinking from it, and the nine others watched and learned. Within a half an hour, they were all drinking from it, though I left the other waterer in there for the rest of the day, The red attracts them to peck, which helps.
Hope this was useful.

 

[iwltfum]

With that type of waterer, the ideal height is just high enough that they have to stretch their neck out a bit to reach the nipple. I can't tell for sure, but it looks like it might be hanging too low. If it's too low, they have a hard time pecking at the nipples.

 

[Usedtowanna]

With that type of waterer, the ideal height is just high enough that they have to stretch their neck out a bit to reach the nipple. I can't tell for sure, but it looks like it might be hanging too low. If it's too low, they have a hard time pecking at the nipples.

I'll double check since it hasn't been up very long. Thanks!

 

[Usedtowanna]

I use nipples in a five gallon bucket, hanging. Looks like it might be the same basic idea. I took a couple of my chickens, and bonked their beaks against the nipples until the water came out and they drank some. They started to get the idea after about fifteen minutes. The three chickens started regularly drinking from it, and the nine others watched and learned. Within a half an hour, they were all drinking from it, though I left the other waterer in there for the rest of the day, The red attracts them to peck, which helps.
Hope this was useful.

Great, thanks!!

 

[Usedtowanna]

I have a waterer that hangs and the chickens peck at. They were relatively young when I got it and any introduced have been “taught” by the older birds. To teach the first batch of chickens I sat down and pushed it when someone came near. They are inquisitive so were interested in how the water on the ground was getting there. Yours looks like a nipple or thimble on the bottom which think would make it harder to teach...mine are on the sides of the bucket. I will attach a pic to show you how mine are. I absolutely love mine and have used it for the last chicks in their brooder as well so they can learn from the get-go and prevent a messy wet brooder...would like to get a smaller quart size one as it does take up a bit of room meaning my brooder is usually quite large

Yours looks like it would be easier to get the hang of than mine. I appreciate the tips, we'll keep trying. Thanks!

 

[blackdog043]

I agree that it looks to low for vertical nipples, raise it up.

If you live in an area that gets freezing temperatures, vertical nipples will freeze, even with a heater inside the bucket. The other flaws with verticals are, they tend to drip as you noticed already and you can't set the bucket down when you want to clean it or refill it.

I use horizontal nipples and add a stock tank deicer for winter. Here's a link to my article, if your interested.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ock-tank-deicer-and-horizontal-nipples.74609/

 

[neo71665]

I agree it seems too low. You want them to reach up a bit to peck at it from under the bucket.

I have horizontal nipples all along one side of my run in a pipe and my youngsters took to it no issues. I did have to show the leader but once she learned the rest followed.