My chickens will NOT nipple drink!!!

[aart]

Yeah, mine are in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket.

I mention because the first year it took me a few tries to get the height right.

I tried to have the nipples at eye level, thinking if they saw the red plastic it would give them the idea, since the chick waterer was red. This was too low. It went a lot better when I raised it maybe 3” (when they were young) above eye level. Then they could get their heads up.

Verticals are often leaky, not good in your cold climate.
Must be a commercially built with heater in the bottom?

 

[jpalmatier83]

Verticals are often leaky, not good in your cold climate.
Must be a commercially built with heater in the bottom?

Only use them for meat birds. So, they’re back in storage by mid to late august. I never had a problem with them leaking. Could be I’m just lucky.

The laying hens get a double wall metal vacuum waterer set on a metal thermo controlled heater.

I know that’s not a nipple/cup cold water solution. I’ve never had luck with those in cold weather.

This post just seemed to split into two subjects for me. Training birds on nipple and also cold water solutions.

I have no answers for both at the same time.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Oh, the other thing I forgot to mention, you need to get the height right. Depending on the size of the bird a couple inches over their head. They need to be able to tilt their heads back to hit the nipple. Too high and they can’t reach it. Too low and they can’t walk under/activate it.

This is how I handle the height issue with horizontal nipples:

Even after the chicks were big enough to not need "steps" I noticed some of the adults preferred having a height boost, so I left one step in place afterwards and they can choose whether they want to use it.

 

[aart]

I’ve never had luck with those in cold weather.

VN's re hard to keep flowing in winter.
HN's are much better as they seal on the inside with rubber seals.
This was my ultimate solution, has worked well (down to about -12°F) for 8-9 years now.

 

[jpalmatier83]

VN's re hard to keep flowing in winter.
HN's are much better as they seal on the inside with rubber seals.
This was my ultimate solution, has worked well (down to about -12°F) for 8-9 years now.

Nice. That’s a solid rig.

 

[RoyalChick]

For horizontal nipples (agree with @aart) they are much better, have you marked the level of the water to be 100% sure they are not drinking? I don't often see them use it but I know they do because the water goes down (no leaks) and some of them make a lot of noise bashing the hell out of the nipples.
Not to make anyone feel bad but I only ever taught one of my first chickens how to use them getting on for 5 years ago - the rest over several new members of the flock all learn from one of the others or figure it out for themselves.
Most prefer open water if it is available, but I have a couple who always hit the nipples before bedtime even if there is open water in the run.

 

[Pekinlover90]

I just want to throw an idea out there for teaching them. Birds are automatically interested in shiny objects. That said take the waterers with nipples and hang it outside in a sunny place. The silver nipples attracted the attention of all my birds and caused them to peck at them and now they freely drink out of it… this was with 88 broilers, 5 black turkeys, and 6 laying hens and they all figured it out in hours.

 

[aart]

have you marked the level of the water to be 100% sure they are not drinking?

I found this^^^ to be essential.
With my engineering testing mind and experience, I already had (roughly) measured the amount they drank out of the open waterer, so of course I also measured the nipple vessel.
Consumption was less at first, but within a week or so they were drinking the same amount as before the nipples. I still roughly measure daily and am kind of amazed that consumption is reduced significantly during heavy rain and snow events.

 

[3KillerBs]

A note that no one has mentioned,

I expect that commercial waterers automatically have this covered, but if you make your own waterer from a bucket with a lid that seals you MUST drill a small hole just under the rim above the water level to break the vacuum.

I made the mistake of forgetting that the first time. They can't drink if the water doesn't flow when they peck the nipples.

 

[jpalmatier83]

A note that no one has mentioned,

I expect that commercial waterers automatically have this covered, but if you make your own waterer from a bucket with a lid that seals you MUST drill a small hole just under the rim above the water level to break the vacuum.

I made the mistake of forgetting that the first time. They can't drink if the water doesn't flow when they peck the nipples.

My vent holes are in the lids, but absolutely yes.