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

[3KillerBs]

as well as the humidity on avg.

We don't call it "the steamy Southeast" for nothing. Summer is mostly 95-95 weather. That is, 95 degrees with 95% humidity.

The area that was constantly wet because it was a waterer rusted horribly to the point that I didn't think it was safe to use anymore.

 

[electrycmonk]

We don't call it "the steamy Southeast" for nothing. Summer is mostly 95-95 weather. That is, 95 degrees with 95% humidity.

The area that was constantly wet because it was a waterer rusted horribly to the point that I didn't think it was safe to use anymore.

Your 95/95 definitely reminds me of both being stationed in NAS JAX, Florida & our historic house on Galveston island (Houston by default as well). I'll blindly wager the galvanized metal was chinesium quality.

 

[neo71665]

Your 95/95 definitely reminds me of both being stationed in NAS JAX, Florida & our historic house on Galveston island (Houston by default as well). I'll blindly wager the galvanized metal was chinesium quality.

I don't think it matters, all the modern stuff seems cheaply made. I have old galvanized stuff that belonged to my great grandma that is still usable. Any of the stuff I've gotten in the last 10 years is gone. Even the so called "quality" stuff. Why I gave up and started building my own feeders and watering solutions.

 

[igorsMistress]

I like the top fill poultry fountain or the automatic waterers you hook up to the hose bib. The top fills are easy to deal with when you’re in a hurry and the automatic are always full.

 

[R2elk]

I like the top dill poultry fountain or the automatic waterers you hook up to the hose bib. The top fills are easy to deal with when you’re in a hurry and the automatic are always full.

I was really confused with your top dill poultry fountain. I was thinking you were serving your poultry flavored water.

 

[JeannieSeaglass]

In the summer a hanging galvanized waterer. In the winter I use a large heated dog dish.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HMKXQBR/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Sr4GFbPVEY7MV

 

[Eelantha]

Honestly I'm still looking for the perfect waterer, one that wouldn't need filling every day and whose content would not freeze in our very cold and humid Quebecan winters. Seriously thinking about trying one of the two heated horizontal nipple waterers below sometimes in the future, though I'm not sure which one to pick.

Farm Innovators Heated Poultry Waterer
Premier 1 Heated Poultry Waterer

In the meantime I've tried out vertical nipples in the summer months and found out they dripped alot. I use those only for chicks in a brooder now, when a wire mesh floor prevents them from sleeping on wet bedding.

Nipple cups failed right out of the box for me. The cups needed alot of stimulation to refill, and the water level took so much time to rise up that my chickens only tried them three times before returning to the water bowl.

Horizontal nipples are next on my list of things to try out. I'm crossing my fingers that they will not freeze under the winter temperatures of Quebec.

Heated dog bowls got discarded because my hens have a tendency to topple bowls if they're down to half-full, not to mention they are messy drinkers. I'm paranoid enough about the heated element meeting water and rip that I prefer not to play with that potential fire hazard. (It's warmer inside the coop than outside in the run, so the water stays inside the coop.)

For now I'm stuck with the good old non-heated water bowl that my chickens take immense pleasure of soiling every day, year round. I don't have anything to heat the water, so when the winter weather threatens to get nasty I give my hens a second bowl, packed with snow. The snow doesn't freeze or make a mess, the hens love nibbling on it and they still get water out of it, even if it takes a bit more time to drink that way. The snow bowl gives me time to shovel open the path to their coop without running myself aground, so it's a win-win all around.

 

[electrycmonk]

Honestly I'm still looking for the perfect waterer, one that wouldn't need filling every day and whose content would not freeze in our very cold and humid Quebecan winters. Seriously thinking about trying one of the two heated horizontal nipple waterers below sometimes in the future, though I'm not sure which one to pick.

Farm Innovators Heated Poultry Waterer
Premier 1 Heated Poultry Waterer

In the meantime I've tried out vertical nipples in the summer months and found out they dripped alot. I use those only for chicks in a brooder now, when a wire mesh floor prevents them from sleeping on wet bedding.

Nipple cups failed right out of the box for me. The cups needed alot of stimulation to refill, and the water level took so much time to rise up that my chickens only tried them three times before returning to the water bowl.

Horizontal nipples are next on my list of things to try out. I'm crossing my fingers that they will not freeze under the winter temperatures of Quebec.

Heated dog bowls got discarded because my hens have a tendency to topple bowls if they're down to half-full, not to mention they are messy drinkers. I'm paranoid enough about the heated element meeting water and rip that I prefer not to play with that potential fire hazard. (It's warmer inside the coop than outside in the run, so the water stays inside the coop.)

For now I'm stuck with the good old non-heated water bowl that my chickens take immense pleasure of soiling every day, year round. I don't have anything to heat the water, so when the winter weather threatens to get nasty I give my hens a second bowl, packed with snow. The snow doesn't freeze or make a mess, the hens love nibbling on it and they still get water out of it, even if it takes a bit more time to drink that way. The snow bowl gives me time to shovel open the path to their coop without running myself aground, so it's a win-win all around.

Hey there snowbird. I have seen a couple designed of DIY winter water setups that basically were the same design but, "looked different" if this make sense.

They both were here in BYC somewhere. I ran across them over a year ago meandering around threads on coop building. I wasn't hunting for diy waterers.

The visual I held onto for one of them resembles this paraphrasing:
Sitting on a cement square or cinder block
There was a low wattage horse trough de-icer ring thingy sitting in the pail. It's 3-5gal. Size.
It had the little watering cups wrapped around the base.
The lid had a upside-down funnel and the power cord came straight up thru it wrapped around something up to the beam and the power cord went to an outlet near that beam on the wall.

I hope this helps you in your search for the ultimate DIY waterer.

 

[aart]

Horizontal nipples are next on my list of things to try out. I'm crossing my fingers that they will not freeze under the winter temperatures of Quebec.

Start training them to use them now, before it gets any colder.

Nipple cups failed right out of the box for me. The cups needed alot of stimulation to refill, and the water level took so much time to rise up that my chickens only tried them three times before returning to the water bowl.

When training to cups or nipples, any other water source must be removed.

It can take weeks to get them fully switched over.


Here's my thoughts on 'nipple training'.

First, it's good to know how much water your flock consumes 'normally', I top off water every morning and have marks on the waterers so I know about how much they drink.
Found they drank just as much from the nipples as they did from the open waterer.

-Do not train to nipples during extreme temps when dehydration is more of a risk.

-Show them how with your finger(tho that might just train them to wait for your finger),
and/or manually grab them and push their head/beak onto the trigger(easier with chicks than adults).

-No other water source, best to 'train' during mild weather when dehydration is less of an immediate health risk. I do provide an open waterer late in day to make sure they don't go to roost dehydrated, especially young chicks.

It can take days or weeks to get them fully switched over, just takes observation, consistency, and patience.

 

[3KillerBs]

I lured my chicks to the nipple waterer by wedging mealworms under the nipples. When they took the mealworm they discovered that it was wet there.

Because it was the height of summer, I started by removing the other waterer when I shut them up at night and putting it back late morning when it was getting hot.

It took a couple weeks to be certain that they were using the nipples.