Need advice about nipple watering system

[Moonshine Farms]

Hi all. I need some advice. I apologize in advance if this was answered by a thread already.

Here's my situation- my chickens just went outside and they are around 8 almost 9 weeks old. They've been drinking from the small inverted mason jar/red water type jar that you see so often in brooders. When we put them outside we thought they'd take right to the nipple watering system. They haven't. I've seen two of them peck at it. Twice in about 3 days. The third one won't go near it and freaks out if I try to entice her to (or try to hold her near the bucket). Everything I've read (and this is part of my question/debate) has said "have a food and water source available in both the run and coop. So in our coop we left the smaller original waterer they had in the brooder. They go into the hen house and drink from it and pretty much are scared to come out of the coop unless me or the husband are outside (I'm not worried about their fear of the run, they'll overcome that I'm sure in time) but my husband says I'm creating the problem of their not leaving the coop and not using the nipple watering system. He says because I've got the old water system available in the coop they aren't going to learn the new system. He also says why should they leave the coop when they have everything they need in there? They won't venture out to find the water, etc.

I'm concerned about them getting hot and sick from not having enough water if I remove the old watering system from their coop (we are in Alabama and it's already *very* hot here). I think I'd worry wayyy too much while I'm at work all day if I took away the old waterer and couldn't see that they were drinking from the new one. I'd be thinking "are they too hot? are they dehydrated? are they going to get sick?" I should add I work full time, and these are our first chickens. We've got a lot to learn and I may be worrying over nothing... I just don't want to do anything harmful to them.

So my questions to those who have (hopefully?) been here before with my specific problem- do I remove the inside coop waterer and basically force them in the heat to figure it out on their own? Is it okay to do this? It seems cruel. But the husband is putting major pressure on me to remove it. Can you guys weigh in?
Any tips on training? I've tried raisins, treats, grass, you name it, near the water tips to entice them near them and to try them. Why do I apparently have the only scared chickens in the world? Everyone's like "oh their curious, they'll go right up and peck it and figure it out." Not mine lol!
Help Please!
Thanks,
Gina

 

[ChickChickChicky]

I would take the water out of the coop and put it in the run ( I ALWAYS have a backup source for water, even if it's just a pan). That will help entice the chickens out of the coop. As for the nipple waterers, use your finger or a stick to actually push on the nipples and get water to drip out. You may have to spend 20-30 minutes doing this while the chickens look on. Get the ground under the nipples nice and wet (for some reason chickens seem fascinated with wet muddy ground). You may have to do it on more than one occassion. Unfortunately your chicks are at that age where they're afraid of everything. Consider it a success if you can get them to stand at a distance and warily eye what you're doing . I have some pullets I got as 3 week olds, they're now 4.5 months old. They have got to be THE dumbest and most scaredy-cat chickens I've ever seen. Unlike my other flock of hens, they refuse most treats... they may come up and look at them (from a "safe" distance) but the only treats they'll eat are cantalope, watermelon, tomatoes and scratch,,, they will barely pick at fresh alfalfa but have no use for any other greens, won't touch yogurt, bananas, bread, etc. However, I did get them to accept the water nipples. It took perserverence is all. Now I can't keep them away from the nipples.... they just love to have the water drip out and spend alot of time just pecking the nipples and can drain about 2 gallons a day.

 

[ChickChickChicky]

Oh yeah, and to help ease their fear of the run, throw some scratch out there for them. Be sure when you give them any food or treats to always call them.... "here chick chick chicky".... or something like that, so that way you'll train them to come running to you when you call. This trick is VERY useful.

 

[Moonshine Farms]

Ty ChicChick! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one with scaredy cats..er..chickens out there. Do you close your chickens up in the coop at night and put a water source in there when you do? We lock ours up at night because we back up to a holler that despite being small, has foxes, racoons, opossums, and occasionally coyotes. I am going to do as you suggest and put the small water source they're used to in the run during the day. I've been putting scratch down and they come out in the morning when I check on them, and at night when I'm out there. But then they run back in when we leave lol. I'll spend time this weekend calling them and coaxing them out as you suggested with treats. They are so sweet, but dumb as rocks. Mine sound like yours. They only accept bread and watermelon. All other treats have been denied. Out of curiosity, what breeds do you have?

 

[breakout]

I think the best bet is to take their water away when you put them to bed and then encourage them to explore the nipples with no other water available in the morning. Here's a post I made before:
Take away their normal water long enough for them to be thirsty. Throw enough scratch or whatever to get them over by the nipples or call them if that will do it. Sit and tap the nipples so the water drips out. Usually they seem to be curious enough to investigate that sooner or later one will take a peck at it and then realize "OH MY GOD THERE'S WATER IN THAT THING!!!" Then the others see the first one drinking and it's the usual "'WHAT DID YOU FIND --I WANT IT!!!" At least that was my experience. I did see a couple people say they put a little peanut butter on the tip of the nipple to get them interested. Good luck!

 

[ChickChickChicky]

I have 2 separate flocks; the older girls are all laying hens that I got as adults... 2 RIR, 1 Australorp, 1 Black Star, and 8 Red Stars. 6 of the Red Stars came from a commercial egg factory in Arkansas and were de-beaked. All of these 12 girls are smart (for chickens!) and fairly calm and affectionate, and will gladly take any kind of food you want to offer. They RUN to me whenever I come to their run. The 6 youngsters, on the other hand, are a whole different story. They have a completely separate coop and run from the layers. There are 4 Black Copper Marans, current age 4.5 months, which I got as 3-week-olds. They are pretty much afraid of everything and dumber than a box of rocks. I would have sold them and gotten something different a long time ago except I WANT those dark chocolate brown eggs they lay. If they don't have DARK eggs when they start laying they will be gone. When I got the Marans (bought 6) two turned out to be roosters, so I sold them and got 2 Welsummer pullets that are 1 month younger than the Marans. The Welsummers are smart, like just about any kind of treats, act like normal chickens, and although they won't come to me, they will stand calmly and allow me to walk right up to them and pick them up (the Marans hate being caught or held, but are so stupid that they all just pile into a corner of the run and step on each other til I grab one).

My runs and coops are pretty bomb-proof against predators, so except in the winter I just leave the coop door open and let them put themselves to bed. I don't have food or water in the coops except in the wintertime, because they spend most all their time in the runs (which are covered). One exception to that is that I do, every few days, throw some scratch into the 6" or so of shavings on the coop floor. The girls like it, and with their scratching in the shavings they keep it all stirred up so I don't have to clean it (deep litter method... it works!). Sometimes the girls will go into the coop and just hang out during the daytime, but for the most part they stay outside. Since they're pretty much just sleeping in there, I don't put food or water in there. In the wintertime I do, because I have electricity inside the coop and so I plug in a heated dog bowl full of water.

And breakout is right, once ONE of the chickens discovers something, then usually the others will follow along. It's just getting that one brave soul to take the first step...............

 

[sodamancer]

Thank you for this thread. I have 6pullets, the oldest being 4 weeks and the baby is 2wks and a fricken 4wk rooster. Ya hear my pleasure at that he has a happy home to go to on tuesday! Anyway i have had them a week and already i am sick of cleaning their water dish 4 times a day. I wake up and they are thirsty because they clogged the thing AGAIN. really now birdies. I bought the nipples and attachments for a watering bucket system. I plan to build it tomorrow. My issue being i am worried i will kill them or something by dehydrating them if they dont get it. I wanted to start with them little though to make the transition easier.

I dove into to this without much planning. I knew i would never get to the doing if i did not get the chicks. now its a MUST do

 

[breakout]

Thank you for this thread. I have 6pullets, the oldest being 4 weeks and the baby is 2wks and a fricken 4wk rooster. Ya hear my pleasure at that he has a happy home to go to on tuesday! Anyway i have had them a week and already i am sick of cleaning their water dish 4 times a day. I wake up and they are thirsty because they clogged the thing AGAIN. really now birdies. I bought the nipples and attachments for a watering bucket system. I plan to build it tomorrow. My issue being i am worried i will kill them or something by dehydrating them if they dont get it. I wanted to start with them little though to make the transition easier.

I dove into to this without much planning. I knew i would never get to the doing if i did not get the chicks. now its a MUST do

You can do it. Here's one of many videos on youtube

. Nipples are the standard in the industry so don't worry about dehydration.-- just check them periodically to make sure they're working and of course teach the birds how to use them at first. I got the screw-in type nipples from QC Supply. I found it was easier to get them in if I put them in my drill to get them started biting. Wish I had seen the trick of wetting them to make them go in easier.

 

[UrbanMamaHen]

Moonshine Farms,

I have four 9 1/2 week olds. I got tired of cleaning their waterer so I got the water nipples when they were eight weeks old. I have a coop with a run on the bottom with only one water source. Like you, I was afraid to take away the old waterer so I left it in with the new water container that has the water nipple. After one day, I noticed that the water level in the container with the nipple went down slightly. This tells me that they were drinking the water using the nipple, even though they were only drinking only a small fraction of what they need using the nipple. That was good enough for me. I removed the old waterer after seeing all four of them peck at the nipple. When I let them free range in my backyard, they actualy go back to the run area in the coop to drink water. Make sure the nipple is at the right height for them. Good luck. I am so glad I don't have to clean their waterer anymore.

 

[sodamancer]

how do you know the right height. do they need them inside as well or just in the run?