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

[rosemarythyme]

I’m not that strong (sometimes I get tired even carrying the 50lb chicken feed bags, especially when it hot out) and even carrying a 3 gallon, sloshing water container is a pain.

I can't even lift the 50 lb bags.

My waterer realistically holds a little over 2 gallons so I can lift it back and forth to the spigot if needed. Or I keep empty 1 gallon jugs around for easy filling of both the chicken waterer and my dog bowls.

 

[aart]

I can't even lift the 50 lb bags.

I could, but I don't....learned long ago just because you can lift something doesn't mean you should. Of course that was long after my back was shot. I have a hand truck that I use to move feed bags from van to coop.

 

[3KillerBs]

I could, but I don't....learned long ago just because you can lift something doesn't mean you should. Of course that was long after my back was shot. I have a hand truck that I use to move feed bags from van to coop.

I am fortunate to have a teen boy for that.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I don't see why people think these waterer are so great. My rubber bowls work just as fine and I know the birds are drinking what they need and not just giving up.

So I guess I'm a "don't use them, so I don't know."

 

[rosemarythyme]

I don't see why people think these waterer are so great.

If done correctly, it's a no/low clean, low evaporation way to provide water.

 

[MayzelT10]

I currently have those plain old chicken waterers, you know, these: (not my photo, and not the exact ones, but basically the same)
View attachment 2724261View attachment 2724262

I share a flock with my sister (@Starburst) and I have been really wanting to switch to this style, especially as we have rats (trying to get rid of them!) and I’ve seen them drink from the fountain waterers, which is NOT sanitary.

Another reason is that they basically splash the water up with their dirty feet and muddy it, and spill the water. I have to refill the two watered very often, which is a pain when one is 3 gallons and the hose is pretty far.

All in all, seems more sanitary, less work, however I do have some reservations. Well, more like Star has some reservations.

Here are her reservations:

Would stress them?

Unnatural?

How would you retrain them?

Chickens should be able to dip their combs in water. (I’m not sure about this one, but that’s what she says)



A few of my questions:

Where is the best place to purchase them?

How many can fit on a 2-3 gallon bucket (I don’t want to lift anything heavier than that)

How many for 16 chickens?

At what age can they start using them? (I have 3, 5 week olds, 7, 15 week olds, and the other 6 are full grown hens)

anyway, any help is appreciated!

So this is my girls' set up, they drink from nipples on the pvc pipe thats hung under the coop. I feed that pipe with rain water running into a 5 gallon bucket for storage. Works like a charm, and they have no issues using it. As far as training them; I removed their other source of water, took the hen whose top of the pecking order, and forced her beak into the nipple a few times. Once she understood that water came out, the rest of the flock followed her lead.

 

[Karen Glatz]

Yes they work and my chickens used them for the last 5 years for clean water available all the time. I especially like the side mount because I can set the bucket down after I fill it, while I'm filling the rabbit bottles.

However, I just added the horizontal mount cup waterers. The chickens like them even better and are drinking even more than they used to. Also, they are much less likely to drink dirty water from puddles if they can dip from a clean cup.

And my free range (escapee) bunny uses them too.

 

[blackdog043]

I don't see why people think these waterer are so great. My rubber bowls work just as fine and I know the birds are drinking what they need and not just giving up

I use them because:
1. the water stays clean
2. I top them off once a week, not daily or multiple times a day
3. my chickens get plenty of water from them, they don't "just give up" and have never been dehydrated. I know how much they are drinking because the water doesn't evaporate, like an open bowl of water does.
4. I can go away for more than a week at a time and I know they will have water and food with the no waste feeders I use. I don't have to rely on someone to replenish feed and water.
5. I only have to rinse them out 2 - 3 times a year, the inside stay clean
6. when winter comes, I put the deicer inside and no frozen water

 

[LoneOak]

I have a 55 gal drum attached to the back of my coop that fills with rainwater from the gutter,

It is attached to a combination of plastic pipe and pvc which has horizontal nipples mounted in it.

I very seldom have to worry about water at all. Here in Georgia we have very few freezing days a year so to prevent problems I generally leave one or two of the joints in my pvc just pressed together and when it freezes they just pop apart instead of bursting. I do have to carry water in smaller containers for those freezing days but it is not very often.

I use the same type nipples in both my brooder and another pen I keep young immature birds in. I generally have my chicks trained on the nipples by the age of 2 weeks and maybe once a year I have to fill my barrel with a hose. These pics were took way back in 2013 when I first installed the system and it is still basically the same to this day, I don't think I have had to change but one nipple in the entire time.

I did have to order the PVC tees with the correct size thread for the nipples off the internet but I bought a bunch of them way back then and have now done two of my neighbors coops with the same type system as I have. https://www.pvcfittingsonline.com/1-2-x-1-4-sch-40-pvc-reducing-tee-socket-x-fipt-402-072.html

 

[Shahnaz13]

We live in Spain and have access to clay "bebederos". They come in all sizes (for chicks to double or more this size) and we use them in the 5 aviaries with pheasants and chickens. Everybody loves them because the water keeps cooler. Once a week I empty them out and refill. You might get them in the south of the US. The other containers were not so great specially for this aviary because the boys have plenty of perches and one bebedero (smaller size) sits on top of a house with a flat roof. They like to hang out there and take a sip or two of water but droppings fell from the perches into the horizontal waterer. Now I turn the opening of the bebedero towards the wire and all is well.