Do you know how to teach chickens to use a nipple feeder? we made them one a while ago, but they just wont learn it no matter how hard we pecked and showed them...
I taught mine to use a horizontal nipple waterer by wedging a mealworm under each pin daily for a week (when they took it they would discover that it was wet there). Then I started taking the open waterer out at night and not putting it back until later and later in the day.
However, I was VERY CAREFUL about this step because it was midsummer with nighttime lows in the 70's and daytime highs in the mid-to-upper-90's.
After I had seen several of them use the nipples I took the open waterer out, but I watched carefully to ensure that they were all getting water for the next several days.
In hot weather I have two watering stations even for only 5 hens.