Hate my Waterer!

[Crooked Chicken]

I found that one of 2 of my cup nipples I installed on the pretzel container was leaking even though I took it off and used more plumbing tape on it. The package called for a 3/8" hole, but in that thin plastic the hole is fairly jagged. I think I will try it on PVC sometime in the near future. So for now, I gave the chicks a black plastic coffee can. 2 small holes at top of can to wire it to the hardware cloth. lol

 

[User395221]

Where the red cup meet the black connector. Where did you buy yours?

The link is in my above post (Dine a Chook in Australia). Mine are different to the ones with the black connector. They have a float valve and they don't have any spring mechanism that needs to be pushed. The cup doesn't come off, it's in one piece- if the valve leaks, it leaks into the cup. Maybe the valve leaks eventually, everything is subject to wear, I don't know, I've not had any issues.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

I found that one of 2 of my cup nipples I installed on the pretzel container was leaking even though I took it off and used more plumbing tape on it. The package called for a 3/8" hole, but in that thin plastic the hole is fairly jagged. I think I will try it on PVC sometime in the near future. So for now, I gave the chicks a black plastic coffee can. 2 small holes at top of can to wire it to the hardware cloth. lol

A pretzel container is probably made from PETE, which is hard to make a clean hole in. Polyethylene, either LDPE or HDPE, is really easy to work with.

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

What part of the country do you live in? Do you get cold weather?

We are in northern CA. We got tons of rain and some frost but no hard freezes. I’ve never had their water freeze.

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

Great posts. Thanks again everyone. Seems like this discussion may help a lot of other people too which is great. Probably won’t be able to try anything until the weekend but I’ll see what I can come up with and let you know how it works.

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

I just had an idea... would I be able to do a test run with a bucket and put half nipples and half cups and see which ones the hens like better? Then once I know would I be able to swap them out to all the same? Or are the wholes drilled a different size?

 

[EdnaAndEdith]

*holes I meant to say. Auto correct...

 

[blackdog043]

Amazon reviews below

Horizontal nipples: 338 reviews 4.6 stars out of five
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JXUAD0K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Red Cups: 16 reviews 2.6 stars out of five
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=lawngarden&field-keywords=red+cup+chicken+waterer

230 reviews 2.7 stars
https://www.amazon.com/Drinker-Back...rd_wg=1cjHT&psc=1&refRID=RD88RCDA5DR5ET6CBKJW

 

[Corinna Morse]

I trained our girls to drink from nipples by holding meal worms right up to the nipple and they experienced the water dribbling out bc I pressed it while holding meal worm! They caught on right away!

 

[nminusyplusm]

I just had an idea... would I be able to do a test run with a bucket and put half nipples and half cups and see which ones the hens like better? Then once I know would I be able to swap them out to all the same? Or are the wholes drilled a different size?

I believe they require different sized holes. I've read cups need 3/8" and horizontal nipples need 11/32". Definitely check before you purchase, there might be variation between sellers.