Hard water and the nipple watering system

[gale65]

Anyone with hard water use nipples with success? I think I'm going to try them. My husband is being NO HELP whatsoever to help me decide what kind of feeder/waterer to use so it's all on you guys. Since we're very short on room I think maybe the nipples on a 2 gallon bucket would be the most space saving option for us. But we have well water which is pretty hard so I wasn't sure how it would work with the nipple system.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I have not tried nipples with hard water but it might work better with waterer cups like the picture below. There is a bigger area for the water to go through so less chance of getting blocked from mineral deposits.

 

[gale65]

I was originally going to go with cups but do they get all gross inside? My chicks seem to get feed in the waterer within 30 seconds after I refill it. So I thought the cups would get full of feed and then be hard to clean out.

 

[happymom99]

Quote:
I'm interested in this too. Also, I was wondering how many cups you need for a small flock.

 

[gale65]

Oh also, if I use the nipples can I still use ACV in the water?

 

[jmagill]

I have very hard water and use only nipples. Using them for 2 years now and I have never had a problem. Those chickens bang away at the nipples pretty hard. I am sure the scale is knocked off.
I do use a bucket ( 2.5 to 3 gallon size) and clean it once a week.

 

[BellevueOmlet]

I swipe my finger in the bottom of the cup once per week to remove any dirt. There is only a fine line of dirt that builds up in that time so the water stays fresh for them to drink from so it has not been a problem.

 

[gale65]

What about for winter? Is the cup system or the nipple system better for freezing weather? That was another concern about the cups and using a pipe. With the nipples I think I can put them right in the bucket and put in a heater or something to keep it from freezing.

Or what about using a regular waterer (the plug-in type) in the winter and the nipples in the warmer months. Do the chickens get confused if you do this?

 

[jmagill]

I use my nipple water all year round with a aquarium heater in it. The cups can't handle the freezing. There is no real good way to keep each cup heated and they get brittle with prolonged use as well.

 

[gale65]

Curious if using ACV in the water (1 tbs per gallon) will help prevent the hard water from being a problem?