Nipple watering

[User395221]

Thanks for the reply. I live in an arid climate

It gets very hot here too, hence my "water everywhere" approach. I should have mentioned that I have another waterer in there (smaller, it's only a few litres) and also a big ceramic pot full of water, so my reply could have been misleading, they could also be drinking from the other ones. My total waterers is probably the same as yours. The level on the pot doesn't go down much either, though. Overall, they don't guzzle a lot of water by volume.

 

[srm7731]

I just tapped on the nipple and they learned real quickly

 

[SWoRN]

I have 2 horizontal nipples on a pvc pipe under the coop in the run. I have 6 hens that will not even look at them. I sat inside and flicked the nipples (hehe!) In front of them. Nothing. I held one and showed her...no interest. The next thing I'm going to try is a strawberry on a stick next to the nipples. They have to give in at some point.

 

[WVDoug]

I have 2 horizontal nipples on a pvc pipe under the coop in the run. I have 6 hens that will not even look at them. I sat inside and flicked the nipples (hehe!) In front of them. Nothing. I held one and showed her...no interest. The next thing I'm going to try is a strawberry on a stick next to the nipples. They have to give in at some point.

Make sure you remove all other sources of water so they don't have an "easier" choice.

 

[SWoRN]

Make sure you remove all other sources of water so they don't have an "easier" choice.

I started out like that today, until about noon... It got really hot today and did not want them to overheat. Will try again tomorrow.

 

[buckabucka]

I start my chicks on nipple waterers from day 1, so they are not familiar with anything else. In the winter, all the adults drink from open heated dog dishes for about 5 months of the year. The rest of the year I take the open bowls away, and the adults quickly adjust back to the nipple waterers again. I love being able to supply 5 gallons at a time, and love how clean it stays. I put a few drops of oxine in the water to keep slime from forming, and only scrub out the bucket once a month or so.

 

[ClearSkye]

We got our first 5 week old chicks yesterday and they learned to drink from the horizontal nipple I put in for them within 5 mins this morning.

Just DO IT!

 

[bbgranch]

I've read through this thread and can't seem to find anything related to my specific problem. I"m using horizontal nipples in 5 gallon buckets. Everything is great until the bucket starts to split at the nipple. Then the water just leaks out. We thought we screwed the nipples in too much, but tried again not screwing in so much and still have the problem. I think we need better bucket material. I used 5 gallon contractor buckets from ACE hardware. Anyone have a better solution?

The nipples work great and all the birds have learned how to drink and the concept is great. Just need the buckets to work.

 

[mrwoodboat]

Let me qualify my remarks with- I am not an engineer but I am a designer so that being said. I think the issue you are having is one of physics the bucket has a curved surface, the threads on the nipples lie in a flat plane so when water is in the bucket, you have two differing forces at play.
What has worked for us is to use cat litter buckets (they are about square with flat sides) we use PVC fittings (1/2 male thread to slip with the male threads going through the bucket) and put a water hose rubber washer on the inside between the above fitting and a female threaded fitting to sandwich the bucket between the fittings- on the outside, we make a cross pipe that we then drill and tap to accept the horizontal or vertical nipples.
We have used this for the past 5 yrs and no issues so far

 

[bbgranch]

Thanks for the reply. Makes sense. I do have some square buckets that I'll try.