My gals have been on a nipple waterer since they have been 5 days old. They took to it great and I loved it. They are now 22 weeks old and I noticed that they run to the dog bowl when I let them out in the morning. I clean out and check my nipple water 2 x a week. It is working fine. I watch them use it. I wonder if the output is not enough. It does seem to let out a trickle. Has anyone had this experience?
Studies show that birds who are given water via nipples typically drink less water than birds given water via a basin. I would have to bet this is because a chicken's natural inclination is to scoop and tilt. Admittedly nipple waterers do a fantastic job of keeping things clean, but birds seem to prefer basins. So no, it's nothing wrong with the nipple waterer, it's just normal behavior when exposed to something outside the range of instinctual behavior.
