Official BYC Poll: Which type of waterers do you like best and why?

[aart]

/Tangent question
Aviation history buff? Fan? Veteran?

Offline convo?

 

[BigFuzzball]

/Tangent question
Aviation history buff? Fan? Veteran?

Yes, and yes, not quite a veteran though, (5yrs in RAF cadets, my first RAF base was Washington, home to the Vulcans and fell in love with them then !). Put the mug in to give an idea of size lol, well spotted !

 

[BigFuzzball]

Yes, and yes, not quite a veteran though, (5yrs in RAF cadets, my first RAF base was Washington, home to the Vulcans and fell in love with them then !). Put the mug in to give an idea of size lol, well spotted !

Offline convo?

*Waddington*
"Denton vortex" = Mcr ?

 

[MGG]

They need a heater, but work very well with one.

Yeah, Idk.
The neighbor has one in his, but maybe his waterer is just not made well. I'm sure they can be really good if in a good setup. I have a cold weather set up though, and the buckets just have worked the best in it for me.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

To add to my original post way back when, lol - this was my cheapskate solution to using what I already have for the chickens for winter.... I like the cups for summer but no way they’ll stay thawed here for winter; they’ve been frozen for the past week already. This is literally a 25w thermostatically controlled dog bowl, with a 5 gal pail lid with a hole cut out... easy to fill, keeps most of the poo out; it’s on a block so they can all still reach it (mixed sizes of birds here) but not kick too much crap into it. and it’s away from the ducks so I don’t have to worry about those guys making a huge mess. This bowl was pretty awesome last year in the duck house; it just got too messy too quick with them playing in it constantly. But it was cheap (I think I paid $30 on amazon?) and reliable and easily repurposed for the chooks. there were a couple of really cold (like close to -50C with the wind chill kind of cold) nights last year and this sucker only had a bit of ice on the top.
View attachment 2389307

I think if you cut holes in the top like a feeder has it would aid in everyone being able to drink.

 

[Eelantha]

I meant get clogged with dirt and such, but yes, they would certainly freeze here too. I've never personally tried them but our neighbor uses them. They have a heck of a time in the winter. It gets down to 30 below easy each winter. In fact, there's 9 and a half inches of snow on the ground here. My water rings have been plugged in for 2 weeks now. It's 12 degrees atm, and gets down around zero at night.
Edited to add, I took my avatar pic last week.

"They need a heater, but work very well with one." - aart

x2 on aart's comment for you, MGG. Every person I've read about on BYC (plus several outside the site) that uses horizontal nipples with a heated waterer has not seen them freeze.

Can you ask your neighbor about what type of nipples he uses? Vertical ones, horizontal ones, or even poultry cups?

I suspect poultry cups are what your neighbor uses, as I saw a video on youtube that stated the problem you mentioned - they get clogged with dirt and can freeze.

As far as I'm aware, vertical nipples usually don't get clogged with dirt. They hang under whatever surface they've been plugged into, so debris can't fall into their valves. However, water does stay inside the valve until a chicken sips it out, so vertical nipples are very prone to freezing in cold temps.

I don't know about dirt with horizontal nipples, but their conception means side pressure pushes the water out of the valve when the hen stops drinking. The lack of water inside the valve means the nipple itself cannot freeze in cold temps, though it cannot leak water for the hens if said water has turned into ice inside the bucket. If your neighbor uses horizontal nipples instead of poultry cups, did he find his nipples unable to leak water (as the liquid was frozen), or did he actually see the nipples jammed with ice? (that would be a first).

Btw can you write down where you live on your profile? People will have an easier time following you about climate issues if they know where you are on the globe.

 

[MGG]

"They need a heater, but work very well with one." - aart

x2 on aart's comment for you, MGG. Every person I've read about on BYC (plus several outside the site) that uses horizontal nipples with a heated waterer has not seen them freeze.

Can you ask your neighbor about what type of nipples he uses? Vertical ones, horizontal ones, or even poultry cups?

I suspect poultry cups are what your neighbor uses, as I saw a video on youtube that stated the problem you mentioned - they get clogged with dirt and can freeze.

As far as I'm aware, vertical nipples usually don't get clogged with dirt. They hang under whatever surface they've been plugged into, so debris can't fall into their valves. However, water does stay inside the valve until a chicken sips it out, so vertical nipples are very prone to freezing in cold temps.

I don't know about dirt with horizontal nipples, but their conception means side pressure pushes the water out of the valve when the hen stops drinking. The lack of water inside the valve means the nipple itself cannot freeze in cold temps, though it cannot leak water for the hens if said water has turned into ice inside the bucket. If your neighbor uses horizontal nipples instead of poultry cups, did he find his nipples unable to leak water (as the liquid was frozen), or did he actually see the nipples jammed with ice? (that would be a first).

Btw can you write down where you live on your profile? People will have an easier time following you about climate issues if they know where you are on the globe.

He uses horizontal nipples. I've seen his waterer and it looks pretty good. He has problems with dirt, he hasn't yet had a problem with ice. I have no idea how they get so dirty, but apparently they do.
I'd prefer not to, but I'm in North Central US.

 

[Trisseh]

I think if you cut holes in the top like a feeder has it would aid in everyone being able to drink.

It’s serving multiple purposes with a single hole, or else I would’ve made it more accessible all the way around. it has to be placed in a corner of the coop so they power cord reaches, and this places it somewhat below a roost, so there needed to be a poo deflection element as I do not have poop boards. Also for heat retention, I was looking to keep as much warm air inside the bowl as possible since we get some pretty cold temps that stick around for at least a few days at a time. It’s placed on a block but I also wanted the insulation that is provided by the bedding around it so it doesn’t have to work as hard, and the cover helps keep some of that out as well. Last winter we had a stretch of over a week with calculated temps of -45ish (Celsius) with windchill - I was breaking ice an inch thick on a heated, insulated water tank for my cows twice a day at that point. I’ve had no issues with my birds with regards to resources in my flock but that also may be simply because there’s not that many of them.

 

[Eelantha]

He uses horizontal nipples. I've seen his waterer and it looks pretty good. He has problems with dirt, he hasn't yet had a problem with ice. I have no idea how they get so dirty, but apparently they do.
I'd prefer not to, but I'm in North Central US.

Do you have pictures of the waterer? If there's something in its fabrication that hampers the horizontal nipple in its work, we need to know so we can guard against it.

Dirt... the only birds I know that are messy to keep are ducks. Their love of water combined with their soaked bedding makes for a muddy coop in no time. If the pitter-platter of several ducks covers the nipples with muck, that freezes under the ambient cold temperatures, it would explain why the nipples stop working. Does your neighbor keep his waterer on a cement block? Raising the waterer off the ground puts it out of range from litter debris, which should prevent dirt clogging/icing up the nipples from the outside.

Also, ventilation. If your neighbor has lots of animals inside a coop/building with little to no ventilation, the amount of stale dust will rise considerably. That would explain how his poultry nipples get dirty so quickly.

Well what do you know, I had thought you were closer to me from the way you were talking about your climate. We get -40°C temps here when Mother Nature throws a tantrum in wintertime. Really not the best time for the power to go out or, heavens forbid, for the poultry waterers to freeze. Sorry for making you uncomfortable though, I hadn't meant to.

 

[MGG]

Do you have pictures of the waterer? If there's something in its fabrication that hampers the horizontal nipple in its work, we need to know so we can guard against it.

Dirt... the only birds I know that are messy to keep are ducks. Their love of water combined with their soaked bedding makes for a muddy coop in no time. If the pitter-platter of several ducks covers the nipples with muck, that freezes under the ambient cold temperatures, it would explain why the nipples stop working. Does your neighbor keep his waterer on a cement block? Raising the waterer off the ground puts it out of range from litter debris, which should prevent dirt clogging/icing up the nipples from the outside.

Also, ventilation. If your neighbor has lots of animals inside a coop/building with little to no ventilation, the amount of stale dust will rise considerably. That would explain how his poultry nipples get dirty so quickly.

Well what do you know, I had thought you were closer to me from the way you were talking about your climate. We get -40°C temps here when Mother Nature throws a tantrum in wintertime. Really not the best time for the power to go out or, heavens forbid, for the poultry waterers to freeze. Sorry for making you uncomfortable though, I hadn't meant to.

Hm, I don't on this phone. It's a hanging waterer. It could be ventilation I guess. He has 9 chickens in a small shed (no ducks), but they have a big run. I'm not sure if he shuts them in at night or not. He has a window in the shed, but I don't know if he keeps it open 24-7.
Haha! It feels like Canada sometimes! It's totally fine. I think the coldest we had that I remember (past couple years) was minus 30. I live in SD.