Does gravity work on chicken waterer nipples?

[cfg]

Total newbie here...Have a new coop and liked the idea of using the waterer nipples from Tek, but worried that without a hose hooked up and no constant pressure from the hose (just me bringing water out), the nipples would leak? If I hook a 5gallon bucket and run pvc into the coop with 3-4 nipples (for 7 birds) and cap the end of the pvc, will that be enough pressure to keep the nipples closed except when a chicken pecks at it?

What about with those little giant waterer bowls--same thing, will they work without a hose hooked up and water just delivered by gravity from a 5 gallon bucket of water?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

The poultry nipples work best on very low pressure and will leak if the pressure is too high (e.g. the pressure from a garden hose). If you want to permanently connect the waterer to a water source you'll need a float valve on a reservoir or one of the pressure reducers they sell for this purpose (and not really necessary for backyard use). You can also install the nipples directly into the bottom of the bucket; two to three should be fine for that number of birds. I found very inexpensive nipples at QC Supply: http://www.qcsupply.com/420011-push-in-style-nipple.html I don't have any experience with the other type of waterer. Good luck!


BTW, let me be the first to welcome you to BYC!

 

[jomoncon]

I recently completed a gravity fed waterer using nipples. The garden hose is connected to a bucket through a toilet float valve. From the bucket, there is another hose going to a PVC pipe that has 4 nipples inserted. So far, it's working pretty good.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

 

[cfg]

Awesome--thanks for all the help! And the welcome.

Craig