Horizontal Nipple Waterers... in your opinion, yes or no?

[Shawn Family Farms]

I’m still on the fence about whether to start off with open W or VN before transitioning to HN. Either way, all will be good! Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Look into the cup versions i really like them

 

[Devorah]

Look into the cup versions i really like them

Thank you!

 

[Wendy Bee]

Exactly.

If you hang the HN nipple waterer it's not stable and it's hard for the chickens to depress the nipples in order to obtain the water.

Agree. I just put ours on a couple of logs. Works great. A 5 gallon bucket filled with sand or feed/scratch (for weight) could also be used as a base.

I'm using a bird bath deicer in each bucket for winter. Low wattage, and only turns on under 40F, so economical to operate. I only had to knock a wee bit of ice off the outside of the HNs on a particularly cold morning, about -12F.

An additional note about HNs and winter - when it gets cold, the cold bucket plastic contracts, and you may get drips where the nipples screw in (even with the nipples with the silicone washers, which I have). Tighten them, and the cold brittle bucket plastic may crack, which will give you a genuine leak . On below freezing days, you get kind of a cool ice sculpture, but on above freezing days, it's just a leak and gets your run wet.

Fixable, though, without replacing and drilling a new bucket. The cracks are usually very small, and a small square of duct tape inside and out on the crack has done the trick to stop the leaks I've had. Just remove the nipple, dry the area well, place a small piece of duct tape over the crack on the inside of the bucket and and another small piece on the outside of the bucket, and screw the nipple back in. I've repaired 5 small cracks this way with 100% success, and it was soooo easy to do! I even had some white duct tape, so the repairs are not seen at all.

Just another bit of info - I have 2, two gallon buckets for 16 birds and rinse/refill about once every 6-7 days when they're cooped up because of too much snow. Love them. Easy to manage, they're clean and easy to clean, and not too heavy to haul.

 

[PirateGirl]

I have not read all replies, but I love them in summer, not so much in winter.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thank you!

Keep in mind drinking cup versions will freeze in winter, as the cups are external and can't be heated.

 

[3KillerBs]

An additional note about HNs and winter - when it gets cold, the cold bucket plastic contracts, and you may get drips where the nipples screw in (even with the nipples with the silicone washers, which I have). Tighten them, and the cold brittle bucket plastic may crack, which will give you a genuine leak . On below freezing days, you get kind of a cool ice sculpture, but on above freezing days, it's just a leak and gets your run wet.

Good point there.

I've notice occasional slow drips in my waterers over the winter but another advantage to an open air coop with deep litter is that I don't need to worry about small amounts of moisture -- it just contributes to the composting.

Large leaks would be a problem in any system, but my setup is forgiving of minor upsets.

 

[Devorah]

Keep in mind drinking cup versions will freeze in winter, as the cups are external and can't be heated.

Do I assume correctly that you have to decide between one system or the other, i.e., you either have HN or HN with cup, but not both?

 

[BDutch]

Do I assume correctly that you have to decide between one system or the other, i.e., you either have HN or HN with cup, but not both?

You don’t have to decide. I have 4 types of waterers :

• VN on a bottle and a rabbit waterer: Clean but freezes in cold winter
• A bowl: a few chickens prefer this to drink from and they like to wash their feet in it when its warm. Not hygienic and I need to clean this every day from spring till autumn. But it makes my chickens happy and they are worth it.
• A bird waterer with a heating element: only for the cold freezing days in winter. Bc its a nuisance to refill.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Do I assume correctly that you have to decide between one system or the other, i.e., you either have HN or HN with cup, but not both?

I agree with BDutch above, you don't have to choose necessarily. I use HNs year round. But if it gets hot in summer I'll put out pans of water that they can stand in and easily drink from, so they stay hydrated.

I still have my VN waterer in the garage and might bring it out for vacation, or I might just put out the chick gravity waterer, just as a backup water source.

 

[Folara]

I just started using a nipple waterer and I have to share some praise! I really like this type of waterer and wanted to use one but I wasn't looking forward to training them how to use it. I found a used Rent-A-Coop waterer for cheap and, after a thorough cleaning, I decided to add it alongside my pullets' original waterer just to see how they would react to it.

I would have never guessed they would flock to this waterer like they've never seen water in their lives! After I pressed the nipples a couple of times to get droplets, the pullets saw red and went absolutely bonkers over the nipples. That new waterer contained the nectar of the gods, the most pristine glacial melt, liquid gold from the deepest artisanal spring. No training necessary for these girls!

For those who might also be hesitant to try this waterer, I recommend going for it! You might be as surprised as I was, and if it doesn't work out for you there will always be someone like me who happily buys the used stuff.