HELP! Are my chickens dehydrated?

[Cacique500]

We've got a nipple waterer setup and went through the exact same concerns. We keep a water bowl (dog bowl) on the patio that we clean out twice a day. They'll drink heavily from the dog bowl...walk a few steps, then drink out of the puddle formed from cleaning out the bowl. Chickens are crazy.

 

[ourltlflock]

I have the 5 gallon nipple set up. I noticed when the water gets low, it doesn't come out of the nipples as quickly.

 

[pdirt]

We use both the vertical nipples and horizontal nipples. We also have a wash tub sized pond about 30 yards away that *some* of our chickens like to frequent. Some of the birds don't go far from the watering buckets, so they get all their water from the nipple buckets. My two cents is I think the chickens prefer drinking from a pond or puddle over the nipples. But they get plenty of water from the nipples, it's just more work for them to do so...they're lazy! If they are laying, they surely must be just fine.