Need Help With Using A Chicken Waterer

[Awestruck]

I thought I had a handle on this each time I bought a new type of waterer, but I always ended up defeated!
The first type I got was a galvanized waterer, but I can't hang it because the wood that the coop/run is made out of is too flimsy and could not support the weight of the waterer, so, I have this thing on some pavers (like bricks). I have to clean it out every day and add water about 3 times a day because it either dries up or the chickens actually drink it. Not sure how dirt and grass keep ending up in it though. It's a lot of work to keep up with this one.
So, the next one I tried to use is a plastic, rectangular shaped box type with cups on the bottom. This one should really work right? Well, the chickens sit on it and dirty the top every day. I take it out and wash it off. I had thought about putting something like a cone shape object on the top to keep them from sitting on it, but, I'm sure they will find a way around it.
The problem with this type is that the cups end up fill with chicken manure each day, and I have to take it out and clean the cups out as well as spray it down.
My Question is, does anyone know if I can use those poultry nipples instead of the cups? I am willing to try this, but don't know if it will work or not. I ordered this waterer from amazon.com months ago, but can't find it on amazon when I went to look for it tonight. I found the poultry nipples. I would order them if I knew they would fit inside the holes where I insert the cups into.
If there are any other suggestions or ideas on keeping a waterer clean, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[blackdog043]

If you are talking about horizontal nipples that you found, yes they work great. I don't know if they will screw into the holes that the cups are in though. You could always buy a new bucket at Lowes and I suggest a gamma lid also, they are with the buckets. You will need an 11/32 drill bit, to make a hole in the bucket, for the nipple to screw into.

 

[Latestarter]

Not sure where you are so don't know if you deal with freezing temps or not. Here's what I've done which is one rendition of what many folks have done. Chickens love to be on top of things. Unless you make it impossible for them to remain in position on top, they WILL try to get up on top. I went to my local hardware store/TSC/farm store/whatever and bought a 5 gallon food grade bucket with lid. You could also visit your local wallyworld bake shop or similar and ask if they have any empty frosting buckets with lid (same as a 5 gallon one from hardware store but free). Just make sure it's food grade and not one that's had paint or chemicals in it.

I then went to Ebay/Amazon/whatever and bought horizontal chicken nipples.
https://goo.gl/DF6WuS I installed 3-4 nipples around the bottom of the bucket, about 1-2" above the bottom. With the cover, it doesn't matter if the chickens poop all over the top as none is going to get inside. A full 5 gallon bucket of water would last a week or more with 10-12 chickens drinking from it. So once a week I would go out and remove the bucket, open the lid, clean it out if needed, re-fill it and put it back.

This picture was taken in Colorado where winter night temps had been down as low as -15 to -20°f. As you can see, I needed to add a heater to keep them from freezing.I got one different from the one I'm linking, but they all do about the same thing. Check them out and get whatever one will work best for your application.
https://goo.gl/Fu3UUm
I cut a hole in the lid to put the cord through which did allow a small amount of crap to get inside, but not enough to warrant cleaning more than every week or so.

I put some broken pavers in the bottom to keep the heating element from coming into direct contact with the plastic and melting it. You can see a small rim of ice around the top which was cause because I had overloaded the circuit (4 buckets) the previous night and popped the breaker. After changing things up, no more issues with that. Never melted a bucket, the nipples would get "ice cubes" by morning with temps below -10°f overnight, but I melted them with my finger tips during morning feeding and they remained unfrozen all day long even with below freezing temps.

I hung mine from the rafters initially but over time the bucket handles would rip through the plastic on the sides and they'd end up falling so I changed to placing them on top of a couple of cinder blocks.

Good luck!

 

[pnwoldie]

My coop doesn't have electric so the nipple waterers freeze and often crack, ruining the bucket. Right now I go out in the morning with a watering can of water from the house and an empty plastic pan, remove the iced up one and replace it. It sits up on a couple of sideways 4X4s so they can't kick as much debris into it.

 

[hillbillyreefer]

Setup something like Latestarter has and you will be fine.
I’ve used a similar setup with a 45gal drum for the last 2 winters with no problems whatsoever.

 

[jthornton]

I used a bucket and some vertical nipples with floating heater.

JT

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chickens like to perch. They poop all the time wherever they are. A little poop doesn’t bother me as long as it dries out and doesn’t stink. That can lead to problems with some waterers though if it gets in the water. That can quickly get unhealthy.


A way to get around the perching problem is to do as you mentioned, hang something over it in a way they cannot get up there to perch. I don’t know how flimsy the wood at the top of the coop is, but whatever you use does not have to be heavy especially since you are inside away from the wind. Wind can blow things off to the side, things like empty plastic milk jugs. You can make something out of a piece of plywood and hang it in a way that it tilts if they try to land on it. It doesn’t take them long to learn not to try. It does need to be low enough over it that they can’t get under it.

 

[JMotuzick]

I have my horizontal nipple bucket on a cinder block with a rubber pan as pictured. Then a paver to keep the nipples up out of the pan. The pan is there to catch any drips of water as one was leaking for a while. This set up is in the coop and I don’t want my bedding to get wet. On top I put some hardware cloth to keep the girls off. The picture is one my wife sent today. As you can see even our silkie rooster can reach!

 

[Latestarter]

I prefer (just me) the horizontal nipples over the vertical as the vertical ones can drip water into the chicken's face when they drink, and that's not a good thing at temps below zero. I don't like the ones with the drinking cups because they freeze up too easily when it's cold. The ones without cups stay "drier", hence less issues with freezing.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Whether one uses horizontal or vertical nipples make sure the system can't create a vacuum or water won't dispense. If using a bucket, don't put the lid on tight.
Vertical nipples will freeze much more easily than horizontal if using a means of heating the water. Horizontal nipples have the seal inside the water reservoir, vertical nipple seals are external to the water supply.