Horizontal nipples - are they getting enough water??

[DCQCRanch]

I'd sure like some opinions and advice on what I ought to do this winter. I'm not at all concerned anymore about melting the plastic of this waterer on the heated base, as it's only 150W max, and only for however long it's below freezing. It's #5 PP, which has a 320F melting point. We've only had one "cold snap" so far this year, which is hardly cold at 11F for a little while at night, then back to the 30's and higher.

I'm wondering what everyone here thinks of this type of waterer for 12 adult chickens, vs. a semi-clear 17 gallon deal I have from TSC that I CAN use as a waterer once I'd put a handful of HN's around it. It would replace the little waterer in place now. My thinking is the larger the water vessel, the longer it takes to ever freeze.

Not sure which to go with for our twelve hens. We have red 250w heat lamps going in the coop to (this sounds rotten) "use 'em up" this winter and get a new flock next year.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I know the question was about the waterer, but

Not sure which to go with for our twelve hens. We have red 250w heat lamps going in the coop to (this sounds rotten) "use 'em up" this winter and get a new flock next year.

What's the heat lamp for? If you're hoping to keep them laying, you don't want to be using red lights. It's not about keeping them warm, it's about providing "daylight." A regular LED bulb would work, and has far less risk than a heat lamp of burning down the coop.

 

[DCQCRanch]

What's the heat lamp for? If you're hoping to keep them laying, you don't want to be using red lights. It's not about keeping them warm, it's about providing "daylight." A regular LED bulb would work, and has far less risk than a heat lamp of burning down the coop.[/QUOTE]

I know the question was about the waterer, but

What's the heat lamp for? If you're hoping to keep them laying, you don't want to be using red lights. It's not about keeping them warm, it's about providing "daylight." A regular LED bulb would work, and has far less risk than a heat lamp of burning down the coop.

RoseMary, here is a little info on how/why we put a couple red heatlamps in our coop for our dozen hens: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chickens-winter-egg-laying-and-lighting.64477/

Western Colorado can get a little chilled, but not bad. Single digits is considered cold here, and doesn't uruallyu last very long. I'd rather not have that much power consumption going on if there was a much more efficient way to keep them warm enough through the winter. I'll get back to the waterer subject later today.

 

[DCQCRanch]

Hats off to anyone who was able to discern what I was getting at in my original post. Way too late at night to be sensible when I was trying to ask about what the consensus is on which waterer I ought to implement.

I like the idea of the little 4 gallon one in place right now, but not sure of a few things: 1) Are they really getting adequate hydration? 2) WHY IS IT WET BELOW THE HN'S? I don't feel or see any obvious leaks on close inspection, so I can only presume it is overflow from them pecking, i.e., using them. 3) Is there any real advantage to having a much larger waterer in place if we're home enough to maintain the smaller one? On November 20th, I purchased this 17 gallon container

for the sole purpose of making it a chicken waterer (with ACV of course) with HN's, allowing us to be gone for long lengths of time if/when ever need be. So I can still return it within their 30 day window if I get feedback to stay with the smaller one. Two HN"s for twelve adult layers...enough availability?

By the way, I chose this specific plastic container from TSC because it is semi-transparent, so the amount of water is visible from the outside. It would sit, as the current little one does, on top of a base heater, OR over top of an adequately warm enough wattage incandescent light bulb in a cinderblock base for constant warmth. I also picked up a ThermoCube outlet, but will likely not need it because it would take too long to heat water once it would be below 35F. I would think anyway. Please correct me if I am mistaken. The heat base seems to work fine for the little waterer so far, but we've not had cold temps for any real length of time yet.

 

[imnukensc]

Except for when they were chicks, all of my chickens have always used HN. Chicks get introduced to HN at about 2 1/2 weeks old. I've even introduced 2 year old hems to HN when they've never seen one before. Never had one die of thirst yet and I've never measured how much they drink in a day. When the waterer gets low, I add to it.
Your "leakage" may be because of the chickens using the nipples. Without actually physically seeing your waterer there's no way to know for sure, but it looks like normal usage by the chickens to me.
I like your 17 gal bucket, but if you're happy with your other one and how often you have to fill it there's probably no need to change it. I, on the other hand, simply because I would have to fill the larger one less often would change to using it, but I would put at least 4 nipples around it.
If your heated base is like mine, it has a built in "thermocube" so that may not be necessary. I believe it would be fine to use and work well on the 17 gal bucket.

 

[DCQCRanch]

Except for when they were chicks, all of my chickens have always used HN. Chicks get introduced to HN at about 2 1/2 weeks old. I've even introduced 2 year old hems to HN when they've never seen one before. Never had one die of thirst yet and I've never measured how much they drink in a day. When the waterer gets low, I add to it.
Your "leakage" may be because of the chickens using the nipples. Without actually physically seeing your waterer there's no way to know for sure, but it looks like normal usage by the chickens to me.
I like your 17 gal bucket, but if you're happy with your other one and how often you have to fill it there's probably no need to change it. I, on the other hand, simply because I would have to fill the larger one less often would change to using it, but I would put at least 4 nipples around it.
If your heated base is like mine, it has a built in "thermocube" so that may not be necessary. I believe it would be fine to use and work well on the 17 gal bucket.

 

[DCQCRanch]

Thank you for your reply. I mainly was looking for any reason I may have overlooked, but am always reminded to stick with Occam's Razor type of reasoning with nearly all things in my life, and this is no different. Because you mentioned not seeing the 4 gallon waterer I have potentially leaking, here is a photo:

Thanks again for your feedback.

 

[imnukensc]

I had seen that photo. What I meant was even with the photo I can't tell if the nipples are leaking. They may or may not be. Since I can't physically inspect the waterer, I don't know if they're leaking or it's just dribbles from the chickens using them. Is it always wet under the nipples? Does it ever dry up below the nipples? If it never dries up under the nipples, then they're probably leaking. Probably not the nipples themselves, but their attachment to the container. FWIW, your HN look smaller than the ones I have installed on my waterer.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I like the idea of the little 4 gallon one in place right now, but not sure of a few things: 1) Are they really getting adequate hydration? 2) WHY IS IT WET BELOW THE HN'S? I don't feel or see any obvious leaks on close inspection, so I can only presume it is overflow from them pecking, i.e., using them. 3) Is there any real advantage to having a much larger waterer in place if we're home enough to maintain the smaller one? On November 20th, I purchased this 17 gallon container View attachment 1978571 for the sole purpose of making it a chicken waterer (with ACV of course) with HN's, allowing us to be gone for long lengths of time if/when ever need be. So I can still return it within their 30 day window if I get feedback to stay with the smaller one. Two HN"s for twelve adult layers...enough availability?

1. It's "adequate" since they're alive. I know it makes some people nervous that they're just not getting enough to drink via nipples, but I don't think anyone would be using these systems if birds were keeling over from dehydration.

If you live in an area that gets super hot in summer I would supplement with shallow open pans of water but that's to allow them to stand in it and cool down, with the side benefit of being able to drink it as well.

2. I agree with imnukensc, can't tell from photos why you are seeing leakage though I see the water marks under the nipples. Have you tried drying off the outside of the unit and then removing it from chickens, and checking on it to see if you can tell if the water is coming from around the pins themselves or behind the red part where it attaches to the wall of the unit? I get a little dribble from chickens using it but there should not be leakage from behind the red part. I see that this is obviously marketed as a chicken waterer so I have to hope to manufacturer knew what they were doing, but I'm wondering if the walls of the body are the right thickness for the nipples used, as I believe some leaks can occur if the walls of the unit are too thin and the nipple can't thread correctly.

3. Bigger waterer would obviously be useful if you know you'll be away at times long enough to exceed what the current waterer can provide - if you usually travel in summer for example having a much larger waterer can be very useful then, as the chickens will drink more in warmer weather. But I don't know if your current heat set up will work for it, as I have no experience using a heated base w/ waterer on top type set up (mine's a premade unit).

I have 7 birds with 3 nipples on the waterer and honestly they all use the same 2, so 2 for 12 birds should be ok as they're not likely to all drink at the same time.

As an aside ACV isn't the best idea with any nipple system as it'll eventually corrode the metal pins. Of course replacing the nipples is an option but I don't like the idea of metal components leeching into the water source.

 

[DCQCRanch]

RoseMary, Different size HN's??? I never have seen any mention of different sized HNs. Hmm. Please tell me more, if you can direct me to the same kind you are using, I'd sure appreciate it. You cracked me up with your "keeling over" comment, and them being alive (duh). You are quite correct. They are well "field tested" to avoid dehydration, obviously.

Sometimes I have some serious "DUH!" moments. Gee, (facepalm) - taking it out, drying it off for a while, and seeing if it leaks is a good example of something VERY obvious to try that I overlooked.

As for the thickness of the container's walls, it had a pair of screw-in cups, which I replaced with these HN's.

Thank you also for the tip on ACV's corrosive nature, given its high acidity. I've also read about putting anything pure copper in the water to circumvent algae. Algae is my primary point of adding ACV, as years ago when we had a couple hens I fought algae constantly and never heard of ACV being added to the water back then. Weird that I missed that back then, but anyway... If you have any suggestions on how to avoid algae growth, besides daily washing of the waterer, I'm ALL EARS.

Many thanks for the continued educational nature here, it helps.