Hi all!
So, after starting my flock out with dine-a-chook cups (self filling with floater) I switched them all over to nipples (vertical) spring of 2017 when I got two more chicks, because it seemed a bit cleaner - the chickens always get the cups dirty with the dirt on their little beaks, so that by the end of the day there’s a layer if gunk at the bottom. My chicks had no trouble with the nipples and after a few days the whole flock seemed fine. Then for the hot summer I switched them back to cups so they can drink even when panting, getting them back onto nipples once the weather got bearable again. Then back to cups for the summer, bck to nipples this fall. Now I lost a hen a couple of months ago, she had diarrhea and no babying helped (I am not giving antibiotics). From all the pictures I looked at and descriptions I read it looked like it could be her kidneys. But we also sat in terrible smoke for weeks here and maybe there was another issue - since the fine particles enter the bloodstream and cause inflammation. Anyway - I then had another hen showing the same symptoms a week or so later - yikes! I treated for cocci just in case (unlikely because they are in their second and third year and always penned) - no change. But mixing up a fresh batch daily I noticed that all twelve of them barely drank a quart a day! And they splash a lot with the nipples so they didn’t even drink that much. I switched them to the cups and that day they drank a gallon (and they don’t splash it all over the place). I also gave them some garlic in their wet feed (I mix up their leftovers - Scratch and Peck - every few days with water and kefir) twice. No one has diarrhea now, they all look fine.
I was shocked to see how little they were drinking from the nipples. I guess I will just stick with the cups now. BTW: the hen with the diarrhea was one of the younger chicks that grew up on nipple waterers, go figure...
Anyway, a long winded way to ask:
Did you notice the flock drinking less from the nipples?
So, after starting my flock out with dine-a-chook cups (self filling with floater) I switched them all over to nipples (vertical) spring of 2017 when I got two more chicks, because it seemed a bit cleaner - the chickens always get the cups dirty with the dirt on their little beaks, so that by the end of the day there’s a layer if gunk at the bottom. My chicks had no trouble with the nipples and after a few days the whole flock seemed fine. Then for the hot summer I switched them back to cups so they can drink even when panting, getting them back onto nipples once the weather got bearable again. Then back to cups for the summer, bck to nipples this fall. Now I lost a hen a couple of months ago, she had diarrhea and no babying helped (I am not giving antibiotics). From all the pictures I looked at and descriptions I read it looked like it could be her kidneys. But we also sat in terrible smoke for weeks here and maybe there was another issue - since the fine particles enter the bloodstream and cause inflammation. Anyway - I then had another hen showing the same symptoms a week or so later - yikes! I treated for cocci just in case (unlikely because they are in their second and third year and always penned) - no change. But mixing up a fresh batch daily I noticed that all twelve of them barely drank a quart a day! And they splash a lot with the nipples so they didn’t even drink that much. I switched them to the cups and that day they drank a gallon (and they don’t splash it all over the place). I also gave them some garlic in their wet feed (I mix up their leftovers - Scratch and Peck - every few days with water and kefir) twice. No one has diarrhea now, they all look fine.
I was shocked to see how little they were drinking from the nipples. I guess I will just stick with the cups now. BTW: the hen with the diarrhea was one of the younger chicks that grew up on nipple waterers, go figure...
Anyway, a long winded way to ask:
Did you notice the flock drinking less from the nipples?
