Nipple vs. cup waterers and auto fill

[Hbohm74]

IME, the "water party" is quite brief and then it's old news and they just drink from the nipple when thirsty. If you're having ongoing issues with moisture underneath, I'd suspect a leak where the nipple meets container.

I thought that might be the problem too, but no leaks. The chickens are really kind of biting the nipple instead of pecking it or drinking a droplet that is already suspended. They are fierce!

 

[chicken-nipples]

I have had yrs of going crazy over watering the girls, its been horrible, poo in the water, no matter where I put the trough, Now I have chicken nipples, they are fantastic, I wish I had known about them years ago. No leakage with them, the mums have a knack of getting water into the little hollow bit for new babies, they are so clever. In the past I have lost a couple of chicks to drowning, not anymore. water stays clean, no sparrows dropping or chooky pooz in the water. I LOVE CHICKEN NIPPLES

 

[debid]

I thought that might be the problem too, but no leaks. The chickens are really kind of biting the nipple instead of pecking it or drinking a droplet that is already suspended. They are fierce! :cd

Check the height. The nipple should be above their heads when walking so they need to reach up to drink. If it's at eye level, it's too low and there will be more spilling.

 

[jacksonad]

@camkim I am planning to build the same 4" PVC waterer as in your photo. How many chickens do you have using the 2 cups? Trying to decide if 2 will be enough

 

[chicken-nipples]

I find the nipples work so well, mine are sticking out sideways, they just tap tap tap it,

 

[camkim]

@camkim I am planning to build the same 4" PVC waterer as in your photo. How many chickens do you have using the 2 cups? Trying to decide if 2 will be enough

I have 5 chickens. They all only drink from one cup for some reason.

 

[Hbohm74]

Hey everyone! There is a new article up that compares cup waterers, vertical nipples, and horizontal nipples. It has some great information and directly quotes from BYC posts on the topic, check it out!

DIY Chicken Waterer - 3 Compared by PatchtoTable:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...site&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email

 

[debid]

They should have covered the two different vertical nipples separately and applications for each. The threaded kind has a completely different install through thick/rigid materials vs. push-in which is for thinner, semi-rigid containers like buckets. Using the wrong ones promotes leaks between nipple and container and even a slow leak causes dampness underneath. I can assure you that I have had two nipples on a filled 5 gallon bucket for years and the floor underneath is always dry. This is the norm. And, never have they "stuck open" but since it is a gravity-based device, you could cause this situation by hanging the container at a very uneven angle so the nipple is held open by gravity.

It could be argued that reliability is actually higher for this setup since a spring (which returns the nipple to center on the horizontal kind) will eventually fail but gravity won't ;-)

 

[TheFoxyChicken]

I read as much as I could and did not see this covered. Some great info given!
I service many chickens and want to run hardlined auto-fill nipples with pvc pipe connected to the household water. Been running open cups, but they are not the best at keeping illness at bay. I want to use nipples and pipe. Done with fighting algae in buckets in SC. Not really wanting to use toilet floats to refill. I just want to know the cheapest way to drop household water pressure to nipple requirements. Maybe around 5psi. Has anyone done this before?

 

[debid]

I read as much as I could and did not see this covered. Some great info given!

 I service many chickens and want to run hardlined auto-fill nipples with pvc pipe connected to the household water.  Been running open cups, but they are not the best at keeping illness at bay.  I want to use nipples and pipe.  Done with fighting algae in buckets in SC.  Not really wanting to use toilet floats to refill.  I just want to know the cheapest way to drop household water pressure to nipple requirements.  Maybe around 5psi.  Has anyone done this before?

I'm sure there are some here but you may need to start a new thread with a more fitting title to get the attention of those folks.