my AvianAquaMiser (watering nipple) review

[jondecker76]

I just started my first flock of 5 chickens this year. When I was researching ideas for how to build my tractor, I came across www.avianaquamiser.com. Their pitch was perfect - poop-free low maintenance watering for your flock. I ordered a 3-pack of watering nipples, and after using them for a week, here is my review:


The Claims:
* poop-free water for your chickens
* easy to teach chickens to use the watering nipple
* teach one chicken and it will teach the others
* easy to install yourself in their do-it-yourself kit
* no risk of drowning
* low maintenance

What I Received:
I ordered a 3 pack of nipples on their website. The first thing that caught me was the price. The 3-pack was $30 - much more than I expected! They advertise all shipping to be free (which is probably folded into that $10/nipple cost). It was never fully stated what comes with the DIY packs, so I was not sure what to expect. A little less than a week later, the watering nipples arrived in the mail. What came was 3 watering nipples, 3 "Hangers" (wires bent in a "u" shape about 8" long), a small instruction printout, a CD and an AvianAquamiser sticker. The packing was fairly "cheap" - everything was just stuffed in an envelope (the though the envelope was pretty heavy duty).

The instruction pamphlet was quite simple, only stating to drill a hole with a 11/32 drill bit, screw in the nipple, seal with silicone and gave some hints to help you prevent cracking the plastic container while drilling the hole. Nothing much to say about the instructions, after all - it is pretty self-explainitory.

The CD was actually very interesting for me. It contained an e-book on raising chickens, as well as an e-book on how to eat/prepare chickens. Being new to poultry, this was very helpful for me, thought it probably has limited use for someone fairly seasoned. The CD also includes a video on how to butcher the chickens using the killing cone method. It is graphic, but you are warned ahead of time. It is a fact of life, and after watching it I do feel like the method presented is well shown, and as humane as it can be. For a newbie, I feel this is all very useful.

The nipples themselves were what I expected, a plastic housing with a stainless steel nipple. I was surprised that there was no backing nut provided nor any gaskets/seals for a leak-free install. Just the threaded end of the nipple! I would have expected more for $10 each!

For this sections, I have to rate 3 stars out of 5, mainly due to the price and the somewhat cheap packaging/presentation.
***


Practical Install
As instructed, I grabbed a plastic container (a plastic alcaholic drink mix container), drilled my hole, screwed in the nipple and sealed it with some caulking. I also installed a nipple in a second container, the bottom of a 1-gallon ice cream tub. I let the silicone set and filled them with water the next day. Within a day, both were leaking water fast enough that the waterers were un-usable. The chickens had pecked the silicone away, breaking the seal. (I will get to how the chickens did with the nipple later in the review)
Through some trial and error, I found that the treads on the nipple were 1/8" "iron pipe" threads. I could not find any iron pipe nuts at the hardware store, but they did have some 1/8" brass pipe unions available. I picked up a few of them to use as backing nuts. I also picked up some 11/32" rubber o-rings to use as a seal. I am happy to say that after adding a rubber seal (the o-ring) and a backing nut to squeeze things together, there have been no leaks. In my opinion, the folks over at avianaquamiser should include backing nuts (even if they are plastic) as well as a cheap rubber gasket. I couldn't imagine that it would drive their costs up too much!
For this section, I would have to rate 2 stars out of 5 due to the fact that they are being too cheap to include proper installation hardware.
**

The Chickens
I put the watering nipple in the chicken tractor, using the Ice-cream pail's handle to hang it. I spent about 5-10 minutes teaching one of the chickens how to use it by simply flicking the nipple repeatedly until the bird finally figured out where the water was coming from. True to their claim, teaching a chicken to use the watering nipple wasn't all that hard. Also, true to their claims, the others quickly learned how to use it from watching the one I taught. Within 15 minutes, all of the birds were taking their turns drinking water from the watering nipple.
For this section, its a very solid 5 out of 5 stars. The product does work (assuming a leak-free install!), it does provide clean, low-maintenance water for your birds and they do learn how to use it pretty easily!
*****


Overall
Overall I am very happy with the purchase. Sure, it is a bit pricey and they could do a better job of presentation and included hardware, but its hard to argue that it isn't a great product that delivers their claims. The birds seem to love it, and I have yet to have anything at all contaminate their water. Looking back, I would never choose another way to water my chickens - period! Now if they would only put a little time into making a better presentation for their product, and included some better attachment hardware (a gasket and a backing nut) - they would have a perfect product!
I give the overall rating a 4 of 5 stars. In my opinion, it would be a perfect 5 stars if they worked on their price point a little, did some more professional packaging and added the mentioned attachment hardware. I would recommend their product to anyone (while giving the hint to get an o-ring and 1/8" brass FIP union for a better install).

****

 

[newchicksnducks]

Thanks for the review! I've been thinking about this for summer use and in the brooder. It would make it so much nicer to have clean water all day long! Other companies make the nipples, so I might check into it further. I don't know if this would be practical for us in the winter, because it does get cold enough to have water freeze in our coop, but that still leaves 3 seasons of clean water

 

[AHappychick]

very good review. I bought them a few years ago and I felt much the same about the purchase. I did not like the way they made the handel though on the pitchers and can neer get it to hang well with out a lot of adjusting. They are really usefull for ducklings though and I have now gone and built a better system using the nipples and these huge jugs. Over all though I agree that nipples are the best way or at least the easiest and cleanest for me.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

Quote:
If anyone is interested in purchasing these check with me first. I think you will find the shipping to be much more reasonable than QC. I am working on a u-tube DIY vid but untill then I can personally answer any questions.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Thank you for sharing that. I hope that more people will share reviews on various "chicken items"...

Well done!

 

[jondecker76]

One thing I forgot to mention:


The website also claims that their specialized nipples do not need to be pressurized (i.e. the watter supply does not have to be located so many inches above the nipple). These nipples can and should be placed directly on the bottom of a container. As I've found, most watering nipples need upwards of 10" of water column height to work properly.


Their claims so far in my experience are true - the nipples dispense water freely when pecked, and don't leak water when they are just sitting there when mounted directly on the bottom of a container.

I would be interested in knowing if any other supplier offer watering nipples that can work fine without extra water pressure.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

Quote:
I know of no poultry nipple drinker manufacturer that recomends more than a 16" of water column height as within the proper pressure range for operation.
16" = 0.60 PSI (+/-)
For broilers a 10" water column height is pretty typical for unworn nipples in hot climates like the southern US in the summer. If more water delivery is needed a different nipple, with more water flow at a given pressure, is used.
To fine a point to worry about in the backyard situation - unless you want to water adult ducks.

 

[Dogfish]

For the unitiated person I would suggest ordering the nipples from the company being reviewed, and they give some basic instruction and additional information. To me, the packaging means absultely nothing as long as the product gets to me in undamaged fashion, as advertised. Their website plainly states what you will get in the packet.

I like Neil's approach best, especially since the nipples are $1-2 at the large farm supply houses, and they charge $10+ for shipping. If you possess even the most basic set of mechanical skills, like being able to not put your eye out with a drill every time you handle it, or manage not to cut your hand off with a box knife or hand saw on most days when you pick one up, buy from Neil. His shipping is reasonable, and all of these nipples are the exact same product.

As far as materials used to get water from, PVC pipe works consistently well for me. Thanks for the hint on the 1/8" backing nut, though. I think that will be extremely helpful to folks installing them that way.

Now don't put your eye out!

 

[kateseidel]

Bought the FarmTek nipples, easy to install, working great. No dripping, no mess - 6 week old chicks figured it out without a problem. The only "modification" we made was to use the little black rubber washers. And my husband really wanted a square bucket, so we used an old cat litter bucket rather than a round bucket. For our flock of 15, we fill it once a week or so.

 

[yomama]

Quote:
Not to steer too much off track, but how does it fair with your ducklings. I have one 7 wk old Pekin duckling amongst 8, 7wk old chicks. I use the nipples for my adult chickens in the other run, and it works great. I'm concerned that my duckling needs some sort of "splash" bucket to clean out her nostrils. A few of my chicks have tried the water nipple, but of course with the buckets of water out too, they don't feel the need to use it. I know that you need to take the other water away, for them to use the nipples, but I am concerned about my ducklings needs.