Nipple watering?

[pdirt]

Don't kid yourself.

The horizontals will drip also.

One member had a bird get frostbite, and a foot stuck in the ice puddle one winter.

Here is my solution.



Any water that drips into the pizza pan, the birds drink.

Now my litter is totally dry.

Nice idea with the pizza pan!

Having tried both the vertical and horizontal nipples, I agree that the horizontal nipples do dribble, too. But they dribble WAY WAY WAY less than the vertical ones. The first winter with the vertical ones, I hauled out no less than 4 massive chunks of ice (each chunk about the size of 2 large watermelons). Last winter, with the horizontal nipples, I hauled out ONE chunk of ice the size of a cantelope.

Installed properly, neither the vert or horiz nipples should leak (as in drip water all the time) but both will dribble (when in use by a chicken). Another benefit of the horiz nipples other than drier litter is since they don't dribble so much is you can have longer periods between water fill-ups. With the vert nipples, I had to fill the bucket about every 3 days, with the horiz nipples, I can go 5-6 days.

 

[RonP]

Nice idea with the pizza pan!

Having tried both the vertical and horizontal nipples, I agree that the horizontal nipples do dribble, too. But they dribble WAY WAY WAY less than the vertical ones. The first winter with the vertical ones, I hauled out no less than 4 massive chunks of ice (each chunk about the size of 2 large watermelons). Last winter, with the horizontal nipples, I hauled out ONE chunk of ice the size of a cantelope.

Agreed.

My waterer does not leak.

The birds will allow water to dribble out while drinking.

The pizza pan catches 99% of the dribble.

The birds drink anything in the pan.

Everything sits on a popcorn tin heater.

I just built this waterer so I can't report what will happen below freezing temps, but it "should" work well.

 

[Osburnsa]

Don't kid yourself. The horizontals will drip also. One member had a bird get frostbite, and a foot stuck in the ice puddle one winter. Here is my solution. Any water that drips into the pizza pan, the birds drink. Now my litter is totally dry.

This is genius. I've been following this thread, trying to decide which method I wanted to use. I believe I have found my chosen method. Thanks!

 

[Woodsdweller]

Lots of people = lots of ideas. One of them has got to work.

 

[Phoenix5ire]

Just some personal thoughts/experience on water nipples and to ensure your nipples are water-tight to minimize water waste.

Mine are setup on a pvc using the vertical nipples, while there will always be some "waste" when the chickens are pecking at it but the waste should be minimize. Unless you're a commercial breeder and you've got several hundred birds,... that's another story. For the most part, I'm referring to most of us backyard eggers.

Another words, if they're not pecking at it, it should not be dripping. If the water pressure is decent and the nipples are water-tight, there shouldn't be any water dripping.
When I first installed it, I did have a couple that were just dripping, this was because the nipple was not water-tight. To resolve this issue, I use teflon tape and wrapped it around the thread where it's leaking from, whether it be the thread where it screws into the pvc or the bottom half where the little metal toggle is. I will also say that not all water nipples are created the same, some are better built then others so you'll just have to observe where the water is leaking on the nipple itself to get a better idea if it's just a bad nipple or you need to put some teflon tape to it.

The water nipple actually has two threads where it can leak:
1) the top thread where it connects to pvc
2) the bottom thread where it connects to the metal toggle


Water nipple dissection below, there are 2 separate threads where water can leak and where to apply teflon tape:



Hope this helps.

 

[HenHouse10C]

My nipples came!! I used a 2L bottle I had been hanging on to and drilled the hole through the lid (thankfully my husband already had the correct size drill bit). Screwed in the nipple, punched a hole in the other end of the bottle for air and screwed the lid with the nipple back on to the bottle. Filled it up with water. It was leaking around where the nipple is inserted into the hole in the lid. So I put a dab of silicone sealant around the base of the nipple where it meets the bottle cap. It's still drying so I haven't been able to test it yet. Hopefully tomorrow it'll be dry and I can post an updated picture. Wish me luck! If this works, I think I'm going to do 3 2L bottles in the coop/run. We are down to 6 birds now, so that should be plenty. 1 waterer inside the coop and 2 outside in the run.

 

[HenHouse10C]

Also, we live in FL so frostbite and freezing temps aren't an issue here except for maybe 1 night out of the year. I'll deal with that when the time comes

 

[chynasparks]

...

So, from what I've read, a nipple watering system is the most efficient and cleanest way? I am totally new to this so please excuse my ignorance. We have 3 eight week old girls that are coop training right now, and this morning (day 2 of being locked in the coop) their water bowl was full of poop and straw, which I'm sure is not good for them! The closest feed store is an hour away so I can't just run to get a nipple waterer, HOWEVER... there is a petsmart here in town that may have something I could substitute. Unless there is a Diy version? I'm pretty handy with a screw gun and saw so I could def build something, given the right idea![/quote

I started a little flock of 5 pullets in March by hey we're 2 weeks old. As soon as I determined they were old enough to get around the coop on their own, I started them on a nipple waterer. I showed one peep how to use it and right away everyone was drinking from it. My previous flock got taken by predators :-(. That's another story. Anyway, I got the waterer from eBay. It's made of PVC pipe. Had the holes drilled, a handle and a lid. All we had to do was put the nipples In the holes. We could have made this ourselves but I got it for $26 and free shipping. It's long and holds a bout 4-5 gallons. I now have it in their secure run and forms a 3 galling bucket nipple waterer at TS for $14. It's in the coop. I know we could have made them ourselves. They definitely use the waterers and gave gotten really good at it. No more poopie dirty water. Funny thing is, the label on the TS bucket says recommended for adult birds. Good thing my peeps can't read

 

[chynasparks]

Sorry for typos. Spell check. :-(

 

[MichelleMaha]

I just bought a pre-made 3 gallon waterer with nipples from Amazon. It was around $19.00. I could probably make it myself for less money, but it didn't seem worth the aggravation. It should arrive soon! Can't wait to use it. I am going to hang it towards the edge of the run so that I can fill it without having to enter.