Nipple Water Question..

[tadpole98]

Do the chickens like nipple waterers? Im worried we will take all this time to set them up and the chickens will *disapprove*

 

[Mehjr10]

Mine use it on a daily basis, I started the little ones of with a single nipple in a coke bottle thru the cap. Added the cup to catch their drips.





I have this in the run 4 nipples in a 24" x 2" pvc pipe attached to a rain barrel.

 

[janinepeters]

They will use them, but in my experience they much prefer to drink from a puddle type situation. I've been told t is easier to get them to use nipple waterers if you start them on it as chicks, and that makes sense. I converted my 1st flock to nipple waterers when they were a few mos. old, and they definitely did not like it, but none of them let themselves get dehydrated over it. What made me switch back to regular water fount, is during summer heat, when I was concerned they were not drinking enough. I would bring out a pan of water and they would go nuts, tanking up. I just felt like they would drink much more from the pan than from the nipple, which felt safer to me in hot weathert. Commercial factory farms use nipple waterers routinely, I've been told, but I believe that most often that is in a temperature controlled environment.

 

[tadpole98]

Thank you for the Info

It concerns me that they will get dehydrated, especially with this hot weather. We have 50 hens, so we want to give them the best thing possible

 

[Mehjr10]

Mine have made it well during the 105+ days and I have 30 using the nipples. I did put a pan of water out on the couple of really hot days some would drink from it others used the nipples still, some just stood in the pan of water. Good Luck.

 

[Our Roost]

I started my chicks on the nipple waterers about the time I put them in the coop around 6 weeks old. I introduced each of their beaks to the nipple and most adapted right away to pecking at it for water. The nipples are fed from a rain barrel and pvc pipe inside their coop. Outside in their run area I have a 5 gallon bucket with 3 nipples attached at the bottom. They use this the most frquent when outside grazing and scratching. I have 2 ducks that use them also. The only problem I have experienced is the water temperature in the rain barrel and bucket on hot days. Too hot for even a human to drink from! I empty both and refill with cool water and things are back to normal. Other than that, nipple waterers save a lot of time on maintenance and upkeep. Plus they are virtually quite a clean process with no poop in much like the water dish feeders I started out with. Hope this helps.

 

[ChickenJerk]

Not only are chickens "hard wired" to drink from a pool of water, at their foot level, the temperature of water stored in the supply system can become quite warm and cause them to over appreciate the cooler water offered to them in an open container.

This is from one of the major nipple drinker suppliers in the world-

 

[3 NH reds]

interesting about water temp but it makes sense. I love using the nipple waterers, the waterer is clean for one. Planning on a 50 gal drum soon with 20+ chicken and 8 turkey it makes sense,

 

[janinepeters]

Outside in their run area I have a 5 gallon bucket with 3 nipples attached at the bottom. They use this the most frquent when outside grazing and scratching. I have 2 ducks that use them also. The only problem I have experienced is the water temperature in the rain barrel and bucket on hot days. Too hot for even a human to drink from! I empty both and refill with cool water and things are back to normal. Other than that, nipple waterers save a lot of time on maintenance and upkeep. Plus they are virtually quite a clean process with no poop in much like the water dish feeders I started out with. Hope this helps.

I used the bucket as you described before I switched back to regular waterers. I did have to replace the water daily in summer to keep it cool, and also found that I had to wash the bucket frequently due to buildup of mold on the inside walls. In the end I decided it was not really lower maintenance. Now I have the regular waterers elevated on stands, so that they are low enough for the chickens to reach, but too high to catch much poop when the birds scratch around. I still change the water daily, but very little litter gets in there within 24 hr.

 

[janinepeters]

chickens "hard wired" to drink from a pool of water

Yes, I really think this is true. Their wild ancestors evolved drinking from puddles, not nipples. It sure does appear as if they prefer a pool.