What I did was monitor the daily intake with the open waterer,maybe you can do a test, like what @aart did and put open water out to see if there’s a difference
for months before I changed to nipples, so I knew how much they drank.
Then I could compare it what they drank daily from the nipples.
Birds will charge towards a new water source just like they charge new foods tossed out.
Wonders how long you gave it, before giving in.I had good luck solving the swinging problem by using a bungee cord to secure the waterer against the fence. My cockerel still couldn't figure it out, so I had to go back to an open waterer. Silly boy.