Nipple waters vs. Regular waters

[GGsHens]

I have not used nipple waterers. But I do use the small gray square pavers to put the waterer up on. One usualy keeps it level with the pine shavings and two puts it almost perfect height for them. The reason the waterer should be at shoulder height is this exactly. I didn’t know that the first 4 times I raised chicks lol.
But try moving the pine shavings and putting a paver on the floor of your brooder and see how high it makes it. If it’s head/shoulder level, they can’t climb on it and have a harder time scratching a shavings into it.

I just put a nipple waterer in the coop this afternoon. Six little ones 7 days old today.... A 2 gal bucket.. on a piece of wood to bring it up a bit. Within seconds they were pecking at it.... so I took the regular waterer out... with all it's marbles... and watched... they were ravishly pecking it... all of them... but after about an hour of that... I went over and every one of the little trays under the nipple were dry.... (mine have a little tray instead of just the naked nipple.)... but they were dry.... well pecked or not.... so I put the other waterer back and they drank for a good while... all of them... So I'm thinking that they can't peck hard enough on that little silver button to actually get the water out.... They are close.... and every once in a while one of them will get a little... I can see her.... so at 7 days... I'm gonna leave the other in there too until I'm convinced they are actually getting abundant drinks.... Hope this helps.. I'm brand new at this.... but loving my new babies.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I just put a nipple waterer in the coop this afternoon. Six little ones 7 days old today.... A 2 gal bucket.. on a piece of wood to bring it up a bit. Within seconds they were pecking at it.... so I took the regular waterer out... with all it's marbles... and watched... they were ravishly pecking it... all of them... but after about an hour of that... I went over and every one of the little trays under the nipple were dry.... (mine have a little tray instead of just the naked nipple.)...

Is this a horizontal nipple? Or a cup? 1 week old chicks may not be strong enough to toggle a horizontal nipple. I have no experience with cups so not sure if those are chick friendly or not.

 

[junior67]

I just put a nipple waterer in the coop this afternoon. Six little ones 7 days old today.... A 2 gal bucket.. on a piece of wood to bring it up a bit. Within seconds they were pecking at it.... so I took the regular waterer out... with all it's marbles... and watched... they were ravishly pecking it... all of them... but after about an hour of that... I went over and every one of the little trays under the nipple were dry.... (mine have a little tray instead of just the naked nipple.)... but they were dry.... well pecked or not.... so I put the other waterer back and they drank for a good while... all of them... So I'm thinking that they can't peck hard enough on that little silver button to actually get the water out.... They are close.... and every once in a while one of them will get a little... I can see her.... so at 7 days... I'm gonna leave the other in there too until I'm convinced they are actually getting abundant drinks.... Hope this helps.. I'm brand new at this.... but loving my new babies.

Chicks do better with vertical nipples. Are the ones you have horizontal ones? Once they are a mo or so old I have heard those work good

 

[Debbie292d]

I just put a nipple waterer in the coop this afternoon. Six little ones 7 days old today.... A 2 gal bucket.. on a piece of wood to bring it up a bit. Within seconds they were pecking at it.... so I took the regular waterer out... with all it's marbles... and watched... they were ravishly pecking it... all of them... but after about an hour of that... I went over and every one of the little trays under the nipple were dry.... (mine have a little tray instead of just the naked nipple.)... but they were dry.... well pecked or not.... so I put the other waterer back and they drank for a good while... all of them... So I'm thinking that they can't peck hard enough on that little silver button to actually get the water out.... They are close.... and every once in a while one of them will get a little... I can see her.... so at 7 days... I'm gonna leave the other in there too until I'm convinced they are actually getting abundant drinks.... Hope this helps.. I'm brand new at this.... but loving my new babies.

I'm guessing you have the horizontal nipples. That's what we have in both the brooder and in the coop. It was a couple days and these little silkies were banging on it. I pulled the water dish out and watched for a bit. Some would wait for others to peck, then go behind and get the drips. I put the dish back in for a couple more days.

 

[SycamoreHorsesFarm]

Vertical nipples don’t have a spring. Touch them with any pressure and they will drip down freely into the chicks beak. Horizontal nipples have a spring to keep tension and it can be very stiff. They also aren’t attached above eye level so they don’t run down into the beak.

I showed the bottle to my chicks as soon as they dried off out of the incubator and they took to it immediately. I touch their beaks to it then tap the tip to make the clicky sound and they run over to investigate.

 

[msonstrom]

I found the same initial issue with the red nipple or horizontal nipple. They were to “weak to depress it properly. Only two or three of the eleven chicks could sometimes accidentally do it. The black tip or vertical is the one I have gone with and they all use it well. They are a week old today. In another week or two I will try to switch again and see if they are strong enough to use the other. I will have to raise it though because despite using multiple small wood blocks it is pretty low. It’s okay now but as they grow I see it being a problem.

 

[Debbie292d]

I found the same initial issue with the red nipple or horizontal nipple. They were to “weak to depress it properly. Only two or three of the eleven chicks could sometimes accidentally do it. The black tip or vertical is the one I have gone with and they all use it well. They are a week old today. In another week or two I will try to switch again and see if they are strong enough to use the other. I will have to raise it though because despite using multiple small wood blocks it is pretty low. It’s okay now but as they grow I see it being a problem.

We have a 5-gallon one in the coop. We use horse pellet bedding so as the months go by and the pellets start changing to sawdust, pretty soon the chickens are bending over to get water. We have granite half pavers we use. Originally, the bucket is on one. As the months go by, it's on two. By the time we change the pellets out in the spring, it's on three of them. The same principle with the little ones, except we use a hunk of 2x6.